Two years after the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, a delegation of the Foundation Board was able to visit the Kantha Bopha Hospitals in Cambodia again for the first time. The President, both Vice-Presidents and Ms Geneviève Cattin-Studer travelled to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap at the beginning of February and were able to see for themselves that the hospitals are functioning excellently. With the death of our CEO Dr Peter Studer in May 2020, who had taken over the hospital management from the founder Dr Beat Richner, who died in 2018, the operational and medical management of the hospitals was entrusted to the experienced CEO management of the hospitals was handed over to the experienced Cambodian management team. Under the leadership of DG Dr Denis Laurent and the two chief physicians Prof Ky Santy and Prof Yay Chantana, this team has done an excellent job together with the approximately 2500 Cambodian employees: The Covid 19 measures to protect children, mothers and staff were successfully implemented, hundreds of thousands of sick children were treated, hospitalised, operated on and cured, all without on-site support from the specialists from the Children's Hospital Zurich and other institutions in Switzerland and abroad. The Kantha Bopha Hospitals have thus demonstrated that they can function sustainably and independently. More than ever, they deserve the full trust and generous support of Swiss donors.
With the signing of another Memorandum of Understanding between the Cambodian and Swiss Kantha Bopha Foundations on 8 February 2022, the cooperation was strengthened through the introduction of a «Joint Advisory Board». The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Cambodian Kantha Bopha Foundation described the Kantha Bopha Hospitals as a «Center of Excellence and Teaching» with model character for the health system in Cambodia.