EMS System Development in Cambodia is an activity lead by the Cambodian Ministry of Health and involve many other ministries and agencies such as Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence from the government side and some international NGOs. The aim of this activity is that establishing safe reliable public ambulance system in the Kingdom of Cambodia so that people, especially traffic accidents patients, don't have to worry about payment before being saved their life. It started to get involvement from different ministries and agancies and became more active since 2008. Here we will introduce the context and current situation of emergency patients in Cambodia, day to day activities, and future plans.
Our activity started as "The Cambodian Dormitory & Education Project" in 2003 by supporting school fees and providing a safe dormitory for poor students in Phnom Penh. We have evolved into a more mature and diverse organization, with a focus on sustainability in various fields such as agriculture, education, renewable energy, health... In short, the A to Z of sustainable development.
In 2005, we acquired land in Prey Piseth Village, Kompong Seila District.
In 2008, with fund from GRAPHIS, a Japanese Student Volunteer Group, we started to construct a health center at the village. The Graphis Health Center, GHC, is designed as energy efficient and environmentally friendly building.
We hope GHC will become a future model of health facility in Cambodia.
Road construction to the health center started in the Autumn 2008. Before the road construction, the journey from the main road to the GHC location took about 40 minutes in good weather and inaccessible in raining weather. The new laterite road cuts the travel time from 40 minutes to 8 minutes in all season.
In 2009, we modify our organization name to Cambodian Development & Empowering Portal (CDEP).