PHNOM PENH, March 29 -- Charismatic Swiss doctor and cellist Beat Richner, founder of the Kantha Bopha Hospitals in Cambodia, is seriously ill and will step down from his position as managing director of the hospitals with immediate effect, a press statement said late Tuesday.
Released by the Board of the Kantha Bopha Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, the statement said Peter Studer, vice president of the Board of the Kantha Bopha Foundation, would take over from the 70-year-old founder to manage the hospitals.
"Dr. Richner and board members have developed a strategy to ensure the continuity of the hospitals as a model of high-quality, free child and maternal health care," it said. "The hospitals will continue to work, as they work independently."
Founded in 1992, the Kantha Bopha Hospitals currently consist of five branches, including two in capital Phnom Penh and three in northwestern Siem Reap province, according to the statement. The hospitals employed a total of 2,500 staff.
It is estimated that the hospitals provide free medical treatment to about 80 percent of the country's pediatric patients, and the main sources of funds for running the hospitals come from Swiss donors and contributions by the governments of Swiss and Cambodia.
According to the hospitals, the annual budget of the running costs is around 43 million U.S. dollars.
