The
technology available to health care professionals is rapidly improving in
today’s Cambodia. But at the same time, traditional medicine is still commonly
used. Cambodians have a lot of faith in traditional doctors – not only in the
countryside, but in the city as well.
Most Cambodians believe that everything in the
universe has a spirit and their ancestors continue to protect them, even in the
afterlife. They believe that if something bad happens to them, it may be
because their ancestors are angered.
Seng Sreypou is a 21-year-old clothes merchant
at Deum Kor market in Phnom Penh. She said that once she had a serious headache
and difficulty breathing, so her parents took her to three traditional doctors
who tried to cure her disease without the help of modern medicine. She spent
three weeks with the doctors, but she continued to get worse. The traditional
doctors told her parents that her ancestors from a previous life were angry
with her and had made her sick. Seng Sreypou’s parents continued to spend more
money on these doctors.
Eventually, Seng Sreypou’s parents decided
traditional medicine wasn’t working for their daughter and sent her to a modern
hospital in Vietnam.
“All of my relatives from different provinces
came to my house to pray according to what the traditional doctor said, but I
didn’t recover,” she said.
It is clear that most Cambodian youth do not
believe in traditional doctors and medicine as much as the older generation
does. Because of this, traditional doctors typically target parents and
grandparents because youth lack the authority to argue with them.
Long Panha, a first-year student at National
Technical Training Institute, said that when he was 15-years-old, he stepped on
sharp scrap metal and seriously injured his leg. Instead of sending him to a
modern doctor, his mother sent him to receive traditional treatment.
“Because I spent so much time with the
traditional doctor, I almost lost my leg,” Long Panha said.
“When I finally arrived at the hospital the
doctor told me that he would not have been able to cure my leg if I had arrived
any later. Luckily my mother sent me to the hospital just in time.”
Kim Sunly, a surgeon at Phreak Kosamak
Hospital, said it was dangerous for people to go to the wrong place when they
get sick. Someone who recovers after seeing a traditional practitioner hasn’t
benefitted from effective treatment, he explained – but has recovered because
his or her body was able to fight the disease naturally.
“People spend too much time with traditional
doctors. When they finally switch to modern medicine the disease has gotten a
lot more serious. So sometimes we aren’t able to cure them. People are not
gods, but traditional doctors act as if though they can cure every type of
disease,” he said.
But Aline, 27, who lives in Prey Veng
Province, believes that traditional medicine can be an effective cure alongside
modern medicine.
Seven years ago, Aline broke her hip and both
legs in a traffic accident. After visiting the doctors at Calmette Hospital,
she was told that she could never recover to normal and that she was now a
permanently disabled person. Her mother did not believe them, and did not care
how much money it took to heal Aline. She decided to send Aline to another
hospital in Vietnam. The doctors there told her the same thing – the medical
fees would be too expensive, and Aline would never be normal again.
As a last resort, Aline’s mother sent her to a
traditional doctor near the sixth bridge in Bakheng commune. He said that if
Aline remained strong and courageous, she would be healed in three months. For
Aline, his words turned out true.
“It was marvelous,” she said.
“Every evening, I saw the master magician come
to use his foot to massage my broken legs. Besides this cure, my whole body,
from my waist to the soles of my feet, was covered with traditional medicines.
After 21 days, I could even get up and walk slowly. It made me very
excited.”
Even though her serious condition was improved
through traditional medicine, she never believed magic was at play, and still
continues to see a professional doctor.
“I strongly suggest that people who got sick
should go to professional doctors,” Aline said.
“Otherwise they’ll just end up losing a lot of
money and time.”
Choun Channa and Kong Meta
The Phnom Penh Post
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