Work kicks off at the Emergencies Centre in Yaoundé

Work has begun at the Emergencies Centre, which was opened by the Prime Minister, head of Government, Philemon Yang in Yaoundé, on Tuesday.

The Center which begun operations on Wednesday had its aisles with almost no living soul.

From time to time, the hum of air conditioning, the ringing of a phone or hushed conversations from medical staff came to disturb the ambient silence. Everyone was at his post, apparently very focused.

There is actually much to be done within this second class hospital institution, open to the public since June 24, 2015. To accommodate patients, mainly those involved in accidents and whose life are threatened, there is certainly no room for distraction.

The institution comes in the image of multiple Western sitcoms on medical emergencies, so much appreciated by the Cameroonian public. Here, they are braced to quickly manage patient who arrive in a critical state, before even talking about money. Thus, the leitmotif is immediately admitted and taken care of, without caution.

"We operate like this since the opening. We have already received several cases including victims of fractures, cerebral vascular accident (CVA) or accident on the highway. We had to operate when necessary and it comes out successfully", informed a physician of the health facility framework.

According to Dr Louis Joss Bitang à Mafok, Director of the Centre, it welcomes "all patients in emergency and boasts an interconnected service that allows a multi-dimensional support within a small radius in order to save the patient in real-time.”

Also provided were equipment which furnishes the technical plateau, including an advanced scanner for 16 bars. Built on a 4500 m2 plot, the training hospital with a capacity of 50 beds with 265 employees of all ranks also has an operating block, a laboratory, a pharmacy, a surgery Department and another dedicated to the intensive care unit. "40% of people who arrive in a state of emergency die.”

The reason why we have put in place a particular system that invests on human life to change this situation. We have a mobile service which starts treatment at the place of the accident provided they are informed. The toll-free number will be released shortly," reassured the Director of the Center.

A system of post-payment which allows to draw up the invoice to the sick after all care has been implemented. Only the future will judge its effectiveness and the recognition by the public.