Cameroon: Saving Cameroonians From Ill Health

Yaounde — The Cameroonian government has begun a crackdown on illegal medical facilities and plans to shut down more than 524 medical training centres and 600 private clinics operating unlawfully in this Central African nation. "We are starting activities to bring order to the medical sector that has gone out of control. Most of [the illegal medical institutions] lack the training, appropriate staff, equipment and infrastructure to operate either as a medical training institution or a clinic," Biwole Sida, the national health inspector in the Ministry of Public Health, told IPS.

"The uncontrolled number of clinics and training institutions are responsible for the death and worsening medical conditions of many innocent Cameroonians," Sida added.

In the student residential area of Bonamusadi, in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, IPS visited one such clinic that is open 24 hours a day and which provides a wide array of medical services, including prenatal and paediatric care.

But a patient who was rushed to this private clinic with burn wounds was turned away and taken to the nearby government hospital, Yaounde Central Hospital, as the clinic has stopped admitting emergency patients.

"We now operate only by appointment since the government announced [it was] closing down clinics," Helen Evinga, the clinic attendant, told IPS.

Francois Penda, a medical officer at the emergency unit of the Yaounde Central Hospital, who attended to the burn patient transferred there by the private clinic, explained that it would not be a bad thing if the illegal clinics were shut down.

"Most patients come to the hospital on the verge of death after they wasted time in small private clinics, which are not even equipped technically and professionally to handle emergency cases," he told IPS.

"A [burn] accident like this is so complicated and requires very delicate and sophisticated medical resources. Any unprepared attempt [to treat the wound] will complicate the patient's chances of recovery," Penda said.

Costs of Public Health Care Prohibitive

However, some private clinic operators claim they are providing a much-needed service as the cost of medical care in government hospitals and clinics is prohibitive.