Saing Soenrith says he has been sick for more than a decade, and needs a kidney transplant. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Hun Sen pays journalist’s medical bills

Khmer Times | 11 May 2017

Prime Minister Hun Sen has donated $20,000 to a Cambodia Daily journalist suffering from chronic kidney disease.
 

Mr Hun Sen made the donation through the Union of Journalists Federation of Cambodia yesterday after veteran reporter Saing Soenrith said online he would sell his house to fund his treatment.
 

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith also pledged $5,000 to help the journalist.
 

Mr Soenrith thanked the prime minister for his assistance, saying he had been sick for more than a decade.
 

“I am grateful to Samdech Hun Sen for granting me this huge amount of money for my medical treatment. My dialysis costs a lot every year,” Mr Soenrith said.  

 

“I have been suffering from kidney failure since 2006 and I’ve grown weaker and more tired each year. Since last year, I have needed a dialysis twice a week, which costs $80 each time.”  
 

The journalist said doctors in Thailand had told him he needed a kidney transplant, which will cost about $45,000.
 

Union president Huy Vannak said Khmer people should help one another regardless of their different professions.
 

“It is very kind of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife to donate their money to brother Soenrith without discrimination,” he said.
 

Kay Kimsong, editor of Phnom Penh Post Khmer, said the donation would not only help treat Mr Soenrith’s physical problems but would encourage him to get well and continue looking after his three children.    
 

Mr Soenrith is divorced from his wife and their three children live with him.
 

“The money from Prime Minister Hun Sen is a magic remedy more powerful than any of the other medicines Mr Soenrith has been searching for this past year,” Mr Kimsong said.
 

Mr Soenrith is currently pursuing a complaint against the Cambodia Daily, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He says they have stopped paying him since he was too unwell to work.   
 

The Labour Ministry has already supported his complaint and the case is now being dealt with by Phnom Penh Municipal Court.