Yem Chrin: the quack doctor

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia — The trial for an unlicensed medical practitioner, who infected more than 200 villagers here in northwestern Cambodia with HIV by reusing unsterilized needles, began on Tuesday.

The unlicensed medic is identified as Yem Chrin, 57, who was arrested on Dec. 17 last year after most of his patients had their blood tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Battambang Provincial Court’s prosecutor Nuon San has charged him with 3 counts: intentionally spreading HIV, conducting “murder with cruel act”, and practicing medicine without a license.

Under the Criminal Code, the crime of “murder with cruel act” will be punishable by a penalty of a life imprisonment.

Yem Chrin, accompanied by his lawyer En Sovann, appeared in the provincial court on Tuesday. The trial is expected to last for five days.

According to a local official, at least 10 of the HIV-infected people in the province’s Roka village had died so far.

Cambodia has seen a success in reducing HIV infection rate over the last decade.

The prevalence rate of HIV infection steadily declined to 0.4 percent among the adult population in 2014 from 2.5 percent in 1998, according the National AIDS Authority.

Currently, the Southeast Asian country has some 74,000 people living with the virus.

*Reported by Xinhua