For patients seeking medical treatment, a hospital with good facilities and employees who adhere to strict hygiene practices should be the norm. However, for many medical institutions, especially in the rural areas of Cambodia, modernizing or renovating poor infrastructure is a tremendous challenge. Poor water and sanitation management is one key area seriously affecting the performance of Cambodian public hospitals.

In a comprehensive project Environmental Sanitation Cambodia and BORDA Cambodia, in cooperation with the donor and project owner Lien Aid, improved all the WASH infrastructure in the Kampong Speu City Referral Hospital contributing to improved health services in Kampong Speu province.

A key component of the project infrastucture package was a Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS) that can treat up to 40m³ of wastewater a day, so the hospital wastewater does not pollute the environment and cause a public health risk. The other main infrastucture components included, the renovation of existing sanitation facilities, and the construction of five new toilet blocks complete with toilets, showers, hand washing sinks and laundry facilities.

With 130 beds and about 120 staff members, Kampong Speu Referral Hospital is the largest referral hospital in Kampong Speu province serving more than 20,000 out-patients and 6,300 in-patients a year. In addition to the staff members and patients, there are also many family members who provide care and support during the patients’ stay, e. g. cooking food or laundry. All these people benefit from the improved WASH situation at the hospital.

A mother with a sick child no longer needs to worry about trivial things like whether or not she will be able to find a toilet or a clean place to wash her child. Families in these situations already have enough to worry about, but the new sanitation facilities help to ease their hardships and contribute to a better health!