Medical students volunteer to join the fight against COVID-19 at the inoculation sites in Cambodia. These youngsters have studied at universities in China. [Photo/Xinhua]
Choeng Senglim, a Cambodian medical student at a university in China, says she is thrilled to be able to help inoculate people in her home country against COVID-19 as Cambodia sees a spike in new cases.
Senglim, a first-year student at the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, has joined other Chinese-educated doctors and medical students in vaccinating people at an inoculation site in Phnom Penh.
The 28-year-old student says she and other medical professionals volunteered to administer the COVID-19 vaccines, following calls from the ad hoc committee for COVID-19 vaccination. The volunteers had been trained by veteran doctors before being deployed to the inoculation sites.
"I'm proud to work with other medical professionals during this vaccination drive because I want to help protect our people against this highly contagious disease," she says.
Senglim says she has no hesitation in volunteering for this task, saying that medical students are future healthcare providers and must be courageous.
"When I chose this profession, I already knew that I would face such a situation or a similar situation one day. I'm ready to challenge it. If we don't do our job, who will do it on our behalf?" she says.
"This is my first experience, and I will never forget it."
Cambodia launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb 10. So far, around 1.3 million people in the priority groups have been vaccinated against the virus, a government report shows.
Sroy Sopheaktra, a fresh graduate with a bachelor's degree in clinical medicine from the Guilin Medical University in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, says the vaccination drive gave him an opportunity to serve people and help his country fight against the disease.
Medical students volunteer to join the fight against COVID-19 at the inoculation sites in Cambodia. These youngsters have studied at universities in China. [Photo/Xinhua]
"We know that our job is at high risk of (catching) infection, but we're still keen to work on it because we want to protect our people and to win over COVID-19 as soon as possible," the 25-year-old says.
"As doctors, our obligation and duties are to save people and we cannot hide ourselves at home when people are in need of medical help."
Sopheaktra says the demand for vaccines is high in Cambodia because the pandemic is showing no signs of abating yet.
The Association of Cambodian Students in China has mobilized 51 Cambodian doctors and medical students who have studied in China to take part in the inoculation drive, says Um Vuty, the association's founder and honorary president.
"Currently, 26 have already been sent to inoculation sites in Phnom Penh as the rest of them are being deployed to inoculation sites in various provinces," he says.
"The vaccine is like a bulletproof vest that can protect our lives, so we hope that our doctors' participation will contribute to protecting our people's lives and to rebuilding our economy."
Ministry of Health Secretary of State Or Vandine, chairwoman of the ad hoc committee for COVID-19 vaccination, said earlier this month that Cambodia had arranged for about 250 inoculation sites nationwide, requiring roughly 2,200 doctors and health workers.
