U.S. donates bird flu equipment for Cambodian officers to make money off the poors

Cambodian government officials on Thursday had welcomed a big load of brand new avian influenza equipment from the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In the big load of equipment has everything in a complete set for influenza emergency outbreak.

The U.S. government donated 65, 000 U.S. dollars worth of avian influenza equipment to the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Thursday.

These equipments are free gift to Cambodian officials or they will become tools for Cambodian officials to make money off the poors. It is an other chance of luck that will help them make extra money from the long history of corruption in the Hun Sen's society.

The U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 4,500 sets of personal protection equipment and 50 decontamination kits to the Cambodian side, these items will assist the Cambodian government in its efforts to fight avian influenza and other potential pandemic diseases.

The equipment includes protective suits, respirators, goggles and gloves, Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, said while addressing the handover ceremony. But will these equipments help the poors or getting more pain?

In Cambodia, every hospital and clinic are not for poor Cambodians to walk in for a free health check up event Donors and the UN had funded hundred millions of dollars. All hospitals, especially in Phnom Penh must be paid from $5 to $10 under the table to get check up. If there is no fee, there is no free check up or you will be waiting all days.

But we just hope that thing will get better in the future and we just hope that these equipment won't be sold to private clinic or be stolen. In the past, a lot of equipments from high tech hospital equipment to school Lab equipments were stolen or sold for deep pockets.

This equipment will be distributed to the front-line workers who come in direct contact with infected poultry, and will be used during the collection of samples and the culling of diseased flocks, he said, adding that the decontamination kits will limit the risk of animal-to-animal and animal-to-human infection during an outbreak response by reducing the presence of the virus in the affected community.

Since 2004, Cambodia has experienced 22 bird flu outbreaks that killed 7 people, according to official statistics. And all children that died in the Hospital were from poor family.