By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

 Cambodia has taken further steps to crack down on unlicensed medics by shutting down three clinics in the same province where at least 250 people became infected with HIV late last year following treatment with dirty needles.

The Cambodia Daily reported Thursday that officials in Battambang had closed the unlicensed clinics, which were being operated by Chinese nationals, as part of a wider effort to regulate the health industry’s smaller players.

Officials had previously ordered nine unlicensed doctors to shutter clinics run out of their own homes.

An unlicensed medic named Yem Chrin is behind the outbreak in Roka commune, where a number of people have already died.

He was found to have been using and reusing unsterilized syringes on community members who visited him for various treatments. He has been in jail since December on a series of murder charges.

Fears were raised about the spread of the virus after three members of the same family - a74-year-old man, his granddaughter and son-in-law - all tested positive for HIV in November.

Amid the fallout, nearly 2,000 people in the area came forward to be tested for the virus.

By January, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said the authorities would be carrying out checks to ensure that the law was being implemented properly with regard to certificates and licensing.

The Daily said of the four Chinese people arrested in Wednesday’s crackdown, two also had Cambodian citizenship. It quoted deputy provincial police chief Chet Vanny as saying that medicines and supplies were also seized.