First Japanese-run hospital opens in Phnom Penh for $35 million
“I think I want to be the first patient,” Prime Minister Hun Sen, who routinely leaves the country for medical care, said on September 20 at an opening ceremony for Cambodia’s first Japanese hospital, a state-of-the-art, $35 million facility in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district. Sunrise Japan Hospital, scheduled to offer its first consultations on October 17, laid out its ambitions with two statistics posted to a signboard for visitors on September 20: 220,000 Cambodians go abroad every year to receive medical treatment; and the country has only 1.7 doctors and seven beds per 10,000 residents, compared to Japan’s 23 doctors and 137 beds. “Having a hospital with such high standards isn’t just beneficial for the Cambodian population. It builds trust among investors and tourists with money who come from far away,” Mr. Hun Sen said at the gathering on the hospital’s grounds in Phnom Penh, which included visiting Japanese parliamentarian Kiyoshi Odawara and dozens of new staff.
