Organization

Angkor Hospital for Children


Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC; មន្ទីរពេទ្យកុមារអង្គរ) is a nonprofit children's hospital and teaching hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia, opened in 1999.[1][2] It gives specialty care to children, trains health workers, and brings health information to caregivers in some of Cambodia's poorest communities.[3] AHC calls itself a flagship hospital and a teaching center of excellence, offering treatment rarely available elsewhere in Cambodia.[4]

History

The Japanese photographer Kenro Izu first came to Cambodia in 1993 to photograph the Angkor temples. In Siem Reap he saw the poverty that followed the war and the poor state of children's health care, and he resolved to open a hospital for children.[1][5] He founded the nonprofit Friends Without a Border, and he set the principle that AHC would be a hospital for Cambodian children, run by Cambodians.[1] With support from Friends Without a Border and from international health and arts communities, AHC opened its gates in February 1999 with three Cambodian doctors, ten nurses and one bed.[1][4] Medical volunteers from around the world and donors kept the work going.[5] Izu is the hospital's patron.[2]

AHC set up its Community Health Action and Engagement Department in 2001.[2] In 2005 Cambodia's Ministry of Health recognized it as one of the country's few pediatric teaching hospitals.[2] In 2010 it opened a satellite clinic at the government-run Sotnikum Referral Hospital, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Siem Reap. The clinic gives pediatric and newborn care to families in rural areas and sends patients who need intensive care to AHC by ambulance.[2] The same year AHC started its Social Work Unit, which it calls the first of its kind in Cambodia. The unit gives patient families psychological and child-protection support.[6]

Dr. Ngoun Chanpheaktra, one of AHC's first doctors, became its leader in September 2021.[4] In July 2022, after talking with caregivers, the hospital introduced a patient contribution system.[7] AHC says health care in Cambodia has improved a great deal since it was founded, and it has shifted its focus to care that is not commonly available in the country.[5]

Care

AHC runs outpatient and inpatient departments, a 24-hour emergency service, a specialist intensive care unit, surgery, and a newborn unit that also cares for premature babies.[3][7] It also offers dental and eye care, physiotherapy, radiology, a pharmacy, a microbiology laboratory, nutrition support, and antiretroviral treatment for HIV.[4][2] It treats long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, tuberculosis, heart disease, lupus and HIV. It treats more than 30 types of cancer and specializes in eye and blood cancers. Its operating rooms carry out more than 10,000 procedures a year.[4] To help children finish treatment, the hospital gives families food, travel and emotional support.[4]

Training

AHC is one of Cambodia's pediatric teaching hospitals.[4] Its three-year pediatric medical residency prepares Cambodian doctors to practice pediatric care safely, ethically and competently.[2] It teaches nursing, medical, midwifery, dental, physiotherapy, social work and pharmacy students from Cambodia and overseas, and it trains outside health professionals and its own staff, online and in person.[4][3] In 2025 two doctors finished subspecialty training at AHC and six finished its one-year pediatric program.[3]

Community health

The Community Health Action and Engagement Department has two parts.[2] The Health Systems Strengthening Project works with Cambodia's Ministry of Health, Physicians Council and Cambodian Council of Nurses on national health policies, such as clinical guidelines for doctors and a code of ethics for nurses. The Capacity Building and Health Education Project runs outreach in first aid, disease prevention and health literacy.[2]

In villages, AHC teaches prevention and good health. It supports government health centers and referral hospitals with better patient care, life-saving equipment, training and mentoring, including residential newborn-care training for health-center staff.[3] Its Saving Babies' Lives Programme, run with the Preah Vihear Provincial Health Department, aims to improve newborn care at every level of the health system.[8] Its 2022 to 2026 plan set goals of screening 5,000 children under five for malnutrition, training 1,000 primary school teachers to check children for common dental, eye and hygiene problems, and teaching basic health and hygiene to 40,000 people in 200 villages.[4]

Staff and governance

AHC has more than 500 medical and nonmedical staff, and 98 percent of them are Cambodian.[9][1] The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia lists 70 doctors, 200 nursing staff and 100 other medical staff, with 137 employees in development, management and logistics and 130 support staff.[1] A volunteer board of directors oversees the hospital; one page of its website gives the board 14 members and another gives 13. An independent volunteer advisory group from business and government also advises it.[9][8] AHC is funded by individual supporters and by local and international donors.[5][4]

Leadership (2026)

Leaders listed on the hospital's website in 2026.[8]

  • Dr. Ngoun Chanpheaktra, Hospital Director and CEO, with AHC since 1999
  • Visal Maray, Deputy Hospital Director for non-clinical matters
  • Dr. Ngeth Pises, Deputy Hospital Director for clinical matters and Director of the Medical Department
  • Som Sophal, Director of Nursing
  • Kong Naro, Director of Community
  • Duong Vibol, Director of Education
  • Sinketh Arun, Director of Domestic Fundraising
  • Patrick Davis, Director of International Fundraising
  • Chhoem Sovong, Director of Finance
  • Penh Kimkong, Director of Human Resources
  • Sun Sophary, Director of Information Technology
  • Leng Daly, co-lead of the Saving Babies' Lives Programme
  • Sokheng Say, board member

Visiting

The hospital stands on Tep Vong and Um Chhay Street in Siem Reap town, opposite 10 Makara 1979 High School. All departments see patients Monday through Friday; on Saturdays and Sundays only the emergency room and intensive care unit are open. The laboratory takes blood donations from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO database: Angkor Hospital for Children
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Wikipedia, Angkor Hospital for Children
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Angkor Hospital for Children, home page
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 Angkor Hospital for Children, AHC Strategy 2022 to 2026 (PDF)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Angkor Hospital for Children, Why we're here
  6. ↑ Better Care Network, Angkor Hospital for Children
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Angkor Hospital for Children, Patient information
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Angkor Hospital for Children, Our people
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Angkor Hospital for Children, Who we are
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:23.