If you suspect you might be experiencing a heart attack, seek emergency services immediately, a Cambodian-American doctor says.
“It is considered an emergency,” Florida-based doctor Taing Tek Hong told “Hello VOA.” Call an ambulance, he said, and take aspirin.
“Don’t drive yourself or ask your family to drive you to the hospital,” he said. “You could die on the way there. Waiting 5 or 10 minutes for the ambulance is safer, because they have the equipment to treat you on the way.”
Ly Cheng Huy, a medical doctor and owner of the website HealthCambodia.com, told VOA Khmer that emergency services are recommended in Phnom Penh, where there is access to hospitals.
However, outside the capital, this is rarely true, and a medical emergency may require transport to Phnom Penh, he said.
To prevent heart attacks in the first place, Taing Tek Hong recommends keeping blood pressure and cholesterol levels low, through exercise or medicine. Diabetics must also keep their blood sugar levels normal, he said.