Vaccination Staff Says He Was Assaulted After System Delay

1 min read
A vaccination drive at the Phnom Penh Municipal Referral Hospital. (VOD)
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Police are searching for a man alleged to have hit a health officer on the forehead during Covid-19 vaccinations due to a delay in the data entry system.

Hang Serey Samrithy filed a complaint with commune police in Tbong Khmum province, and Tbong Khmum district’s Boeng Pruol commune police chief Sun Sothea said on Thursday that officers were looking to arrest the suspect, identified as Ly Sansory.

“We are conducting search operations everywhere,” Sothea said.

Srey Samrithy told VOD that he was working as a registrar at a vaccination drive for second doses at the Boeng Pruol commune health center when the data entry system had a hiccup, delaying registrations.

The suspect, Sansory, was forced to wait and began shouting, Srey Samrithy said. Sansory made a phone call and an SUV showed up.

“The owner of the car came to meet the perpetrator. After the meeting, the perpetrator walked back into the vaccination site, hit me on my forehead, and rushed back to the car to escape,” Srey Samrithy said.

Boeng Pruol commune officials could not be reached to verify Srey Samrithy’s claim that the accused is a relative of a commune councilor.

Rights group Adhoc’s monitor for Tbong Khmum, Leng Senghan, said violence against health officers was wrong. “It is illegal also.”

(Translated and edited from the original article on VOD Khmer)

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