![From November 1 to 3, 2024, over 450 medical professionals and volunteers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia, joined forces for a large-scale medical outreach in Battambang, Cambodia, serving nearly 3,500 patient visits over three days.[Photo by Lee Kwee Yap]](/images/Articles/YL/2024/KL20241103_lqy01_083.jpg "From November 1 to 3, 2024, over 450 medical professionals and volunteers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia, joined forces for a large-scale medical outreach in Battambang, Cambodia, serving nearly 3,500 patient visits over three days.[Photo by Lee Kwee Yap]")
From November 1 to 3, 2024, over 450 medical professionals and volunteers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia, joined forces for a large-scale medical outreach in Battambang, Cambodia, serving nearly 3,500 patient visits over three days. The outreach provided internal medicine, surgery, dentistry, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services at Bavel Referral Hospital, while the eye clinic took place at the Battambang Provincial Hospital.
“Doctor, would it be possible for you to visit my house to treat my husband?” A villager, Noem Nao, asked after receiving her treatment. Her husband, Abu (anonym), has been bedridden for three years, paralysed on the left side following a stroke. Without resources to seek medical care, he lived in despair, believing his life was over.
Moved by the family’s plight, TCM practitioner Ong Boon Hock made a house call. Entering their dimly lit home, Physician Ong began not with needles, but with warmth and words of encouragement: “Have faith in yourself and don’t give up. You will get better.” His empathetic tone broke through the wall of hopelessness, bringing tears to Abu’s eyes.
As Physician Ong administered acupuncture treatment, Abu repeatedly asked, “Doctor, can I really get better? Is there still hope for me?” Each time, Physician Ong reassured him, saying: “You must have confidence in yourself and never give up.”
Following the acupuncture and a massage, sensation began to return to Abu’s limbs. At one point, Physician Ong invited him to shake hands and encouraged him to press harder. When Abu’s hand stretched slightly, Physician Ong exclaimed with a cheer, “That’s wonderful! You are doing great. You can do it.” The small yet significant breakthrough rekindled Abu’s hope.
Physician Ong then taught Abu and his wife simple rehabilitation exercises to help reduce stiffness in his limbs. Overcome with emotion, Abu said with a trembling voice, “For three years, I have been paralysed, unable to move my left limbs. I thought my life was over. But today, doctor came to my house and treated me. I am so touched and grateful.”
Beside him, Noem Nao’s eyes brimmed with gratitude. She had never imagined her request would be answered, much less that her husband’s hope would be restored.
◎ Love in the operating room
In the makeshift operating room at Bavel Referral Hospital, nine-year-old Horm Tola lay on the operating table. Despite local anaesthesia and his mother’s comforting presence, he could not help crying. Observing this, a volunteer promptly played cartoons on her phone to divert his attention and calm him.
Horm Tola was born with webbed fingers: his right thumb and index finger, middle and ring fingers, and left index and middle fingers were fused together. At three years old, he underwent surgery in Siem Reap to separate his right thumb and index finger, but the remaining fingers were left untreated due to the complexity and risks of the procedure.
The deformities made daily tasks difficult and subjected him to ridicule at school. “Mum, why are my hands different from my friends? When can I undergo surgery again so they can be normal?” he often asked, leaving his mother, Chiw Sok Phana, in tears, unable to give him an answer.
When the Tzu Chi team arrived in mid-October for patient screenings, Chiw Sok Phana brought him for an evaluation. She was overjoyed learning that surgeons from overseas would come and operate on her son during the coming outreach.
On November 1, after a detailed assessment, Dr. Fong Poh Him decided to operate only on Horm Tola’s left hand, as surgery was deemed unsuitable for the right hand due to the fusion of the bones. Fearful of the unknown, the boy burst into tears before the surgery. Volunteers and nurses around him gently embraced and comforted him. During the operation, his mother shielded his eyes while a nurse gently turned his face away from the procedure. These thoughtful gestures helped calm not only the boy, but also the anxious mother.
Post-surgery, Horm Tola looked at his bandaged hand and said, “It doesn’t hurt at all.” His mother replied with relief, “Once the bandages are removed a week later, your hand will be just like the other children’s.” Horm Tola’s smile lit up the room as he shyly thanked Dr. Fong for the surgery.
Despite the basic facilities at the makeshift operating room, an experienced Dr. Fong seized the opportunity to transform the boy’s future, exemplifying that where there is love, there is always hope.
●
Love and compassion were pervasive at the medical outreach sites. Each act of kindness—whether a healing touch, a genuine smile, or gentle words of reassurance—created lasting memories of warmth and an enduring legacy of love that transcended the medical care provided.
（Source of information: PPT reports by the Cambodia medical mission documenting team)
