In 1979 after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, Revolution Hospital as it had been renamed had only three doctors out of the only 40 estimated to be left in the entire country. A team of Vietnamese doctors was brought in, soon to be joined by Cubans, East Germans, Russians and Bulgarians. French had been the language of medicine in Cambodia, but soon it became multilingual. and Dr Heng Tay Khy who was named chief of surgery, spoke six languages.