In Cambodia, a nation where doctors are a rarity, MTW has launched a mobile medical clinic to reach villagers with both medical care and the gospel.

“In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia wiped out 90 percent of the monks, Christians, and intellectuals in the country,” said Oscar Aylor, MTW’s director of mercy ministries. “And there’s still a shortage of doctors to this day, which is why we have a number of medical professionals working there to reach those in need.”

MTW’s first mobile medical clinic was held in August in Prey Lavia, a village where Bible studies and a church planting work are already in place. The clinic was run by both MTW workers and medical students participating on a short-term missions trip.

“These mobile clinics will be an arm of mercy for the church, augmenting the existing work of church planting in the area,” said Aylor. “It’s also an opportunity for the missionary medical staff to mentor the medical students they are meeting with on a regular basis.”

In addition to the mobile clinics, medical teaching and Bible studies for medical students have begun in Phnom Penh. At the first introductory meeting in August, 15 interested students came, 10 of whom were not believers. And several of them have been staying for the Bible study time, hearing the gospel for the first time in their life.

Additional medical missions trips to Cambodia will be scheduled for 2009.

To learn more contact marykatherine.howe@mtw.org.