Health

A prime ministerial decree today Tuesday 12.04.2016 has sacked Dissongo Jean II as Director of Laquintini Hospital. He has been replaced by Louis Richard Njock, former Director Edea annex hospital.

 

The dismissal of Dissongo comes excatly one month since a woman Mounique KOUMATEKE and her babies died under unclear circumstances.The case is seen as the last straw on the camels back,following series of scandals that have rocked the lanquintini hospital.

The government had been under pressure to dismiss the laquintini director following negligence on the part of hospital personnel.Hundreds had gathered on Sunday March 13 2016  infront of the hospital to demand justice to take its course.

Dissongo Jean II is the second director to suffer dismissal, the first was the director of the Mbanga district hospital, where a 26 year old lady died on April 1st with her unborn baby,due to negligence

 

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Prince Nfor Hanson

12.Apr.2016

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A prime ministerial decree today Tuesday 12.04.2016 has sacked Dissongo Jean II as Director of Laquintini Hospital. He has been replaced by Louis Richard Njock, former Director Edea annex hospital.

 

The dismissal of Dissongo comes excatly one month since a woman Mounique KOUMATEKE and her babies died under unclear circumstances.The case is seen as the last straw on the camels back,following series of scandals that have rocked the lanquintini hospital.

The government had been under pressure to dismiss the laquintini director following negligence on the part of hospital personnel.Hundreds had gathered on Sunday March 13 2016  infront of the hospital to demand justice to take its course.

Dissongo Jean II is the second director to suffer dismissal, the first was the director of the Mbanga district hospital, where a 26 year old lady died on April 1st with her unborn baby,due to negligence

 

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Prince Nfor Hanson

12.Apr.2016

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The Bamenda-based Regional Hospital appears to offer the difference in discipline that inspires hope for patients. Conspicuously posted on the walls on the entire hospital are some 400 warning messages which request patients to report hospital staff who  refuse to  be of service .

The messages which were conceived and posted long before recent instructions by the Minister of Public Health on best practices, carry the telephone number of the Director of the hospital, Dr Kinge Thompson Njie. That may not be a comprehensive insurance for a professional approach towards work at the health facility because on the streets, some people continue to complain about attitudes that frustrate at the Regional hospital and maternity. But, on-the-spot, Cameroon Tribune gathered from Dr Kinge Thompson that it is a tradition at the hospital to tolerate arrogant patients but not arrogant staff.

In the Maternity Unit which registers an average 320 births or deliveries monthly, the Head of the Labour Room, Ngum Jesse Kheng showcases 27 years of personal experience, sangfroid and dedication to serve that inspires hope for pregnant women who are fortunate to be served by him and other midwives who excel in ethical and moral approaches. The Unit has 12 Midwives and Nurses with facilities that can handle five deliveries at the same time. Ngum Jesse Kheng says they are committed to ensure that all pregnant women who enter the labour room should retire alive with their babies.

He acknowledges conflict zones and says it often requires sangfroid to serve patients who are arrogant or not polite. The Director of the Regional hospital, Dr Kinge Thompson  is categorical when he told Cameroon Tribune that management does not condone excuses from arrogant staff because the patients  is in the hospital for solutions and it is important to work from the premise that a patient is never wrong. The Maternity is however, not free from deaths which are easily blamed on post partum and hemorrhoid or bleeding after delivery or in between delivery and eclampsia.

About instructions from the Public Health Minister on receiving and handling of patients, Dr Kinge Thompson told CT that execution is on course with an IT Engineer already contacted to plant cameras at emergency areas like the Labour room, casualty and out patient consultations. The measure according to the Director is to enhance security and quality care but, not to scare or police staff. He said the measure will help matters to reduce waiting time for information on which the administration needs to act. It is against this backdrop that the Director has been prescribing a culture of duty consciousness, confidence and pride in staff as live savers who must avoid being seen as eye servants.

Come what may, the 60 year old Bamenda regional hospital has outlived its capacity. Initially built to serve barely 30.000 in 1956, it serves a population of over 700.000 inhabitants of Bamenda and neighborhoods today. It does not help matters for many who deliver are must retire home after barely 24 hours to give others a chance in the very few Wards. The solution could be in the expressed need for a modern day, mother and child center with a 200 bed capacity for mothers and 100 beds for Nursery and pediatrics.

 

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Elangwe Pauline

09.Apr.2016

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On a global level, 422 million people are today affected by diabetes. That’s nearly four times the number affected 30 years ago. In Africa, middle-income countries are those most affected.

“If you tell a 50-year-old person you have to stop putting so much sugar in your tea, that's very difficult," Matthias Arnold explained. He is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Health Economy and Management at the University of Munich. Diabetes, the chronic disease in which the body is not able to regulate its own blood sugar levels, still only affects small percentage of people in Africa, but the numbers are growing.

Accoridng to the World Health Organization diabetes is expected to be the seventh biggest global cause of death worldwide by 2030. And that although the disease is largely preventable through healthier diets and more physical activity. Once diabetes is diagnosed, it must be managed well – a stricter diet, medication or twice daily insulin shots to regulate the blood sugar. If left untreated, it can be the cause of kidney failure, heart attack or blindness.

Arnold was himself diagnosed with diabetes Type 1 at a very early age - Type 1 is the more rare type of diabetes, that affects less than 90 percent of diabetics and is not caused by obesity or lifestyle. "It's easier if you have that at a young age. But when you have done something all your life, and then your doctor tells you, you have to cut down on your sugar, your carbohydrates and eat more vegetables, that's difficult."

Government strategies

While African countries still lie on the low end of the diabetes spectrum , in middle-income countries like Kenya are experiencing a rise in non-communicable diseases like diabetes. "A lot can be attributed to our detection rates getting higher, but obesity is higher and issues to do with alcohol, poor diet and tobacco add to the risk," Dr. Kibachio Joseph Mwangi, who heads the non-communicable diseases division at Kenya's Ministry of Health told DW. According to WHO data, over 2,650 Kenyans between the ages of 25 to 69 die of diabetes each year.

In 2011, Kenya signed the Global Action Plan on non-communicable diseases, which include cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and has set up a strategy to reverse the rise in these diseases. Prevention of the diseases, health promotion and training health personnel are all on the agenda. According to Mwangi, the cost of the treatment has also been addressed: "Insulin used to be quite expensive but the price has stabilized. That has been done with partnerships with the pharma-industry."

The cost of treatment is however still a major burden for those affected with diabetes. The cost for 25 days of treatment is about 1,500 Kenyan Shillings ($14, 80 or 13 euros), which as Jamillah Mwanjisi from the NGO Help Age, points out is too expensive for many Kenyans. The NGO campaigns for the rights and support of the elderly, who in Kenya rarely have a pension or health insurance. "For older people it is almost impossible to pay because most of them have no access to any sort of income." Additionally, the accessibility and costs of getting to a health center that has the available treatment add to the difficulty of those affected.

Wider screening needed

According to Mwanjisi, the level of awareness for diabetes is still very low in Kenya. "Many health facilities do not immediately think and test for diabetes – but instead test for malaria and other common diseases," she said. In an ideal situation, there would be country wide screening, so that people know their blood sugar levels and whether they are at risk.

According to Mwanjisi, the growing urban population is more affected than those in rural areas. "You sit in the office, you use motorized transport, once at home you sit and watch TV," she said. "I think realization that fitness and dietary requirements are actually good for your health are only starting arise now as the population is ageing," Arnold added.

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Elangwe Pauline

08.Apr.2016

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Minister Andre Mama Fouda, Cameron's minister of public health uses every opportunity these days to inform the world that he is a competent cabinet minister. The Ministry of Public Health announced recently that his ministerial department may not have subscribed yet to social media networks but operates a functional website through which important information of the Ministry is relayed to the public. Cameroon Concord's senior health correspondent visited the website 42 times within the last two weeks and all what came out is this message in the French language,"Ce site web est en cours de maintanance".

Minister Mama Fouda and his gang of health failures claimed that the website www.minsante.cm serves as a medium where press releases, communiqués relating to the different activities of the ministry are published. Yet, under the current state of health affairs in the country, the site has not been operational since two weeks now. Our national daily, Cameroon Tribune quoted the head of the Communication unit in the Ministry of Public Health, Roger Manoun as saying that the ministry also communicates through the social media by using the Ministry’s of Communication’s focal point person who is in charge of government communication on the social media in addition to personal face book accounts.

The Ministry’s Information and Communication unit, he said, were currently reflecting on how to open social media accounts that will not be easily hacked. "For now, the website remains the portal through which ministerial decisions, circulars, announcements are communicated to both internal and external public of the ministry". All these Mama Fouda rantings appears to be whole sale hoaxes.

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Rita Akana in Yaounde

08.Apr.2016

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A pregnant young lady named, FOMUH Minette,26, has died together with her baby in her womb following fruitless efforts made by Mbanga hospital doctors. Minette who was admitted at the hospital on Tuesday March 29, 2016 died four days after due to what family sources say was negligence.

Her passing away at a time when Public Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda recently announced new tough measures to protect patients in Cameroonian hospitals is indeed very disturbing.

Minister Fouda's time as head of the Ministry of Public Health has recorded many precarious situations in Cameroon hospitals including the cases of Monique Koumateke who lost her life along side her twins allegedly due to medical failure and Honorine NSHI whose quadruplets died after delivery in the Central Hospital in Yaounde.

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Nfor Hanson Nchanji

07.Apr.2016

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