Where patients go to die

When I visited a public hospital recently to consult, what I encountered prompted me to write this piece.

As I sat on the bench waiting for my turn to be consulted, some old women who were also in the queue started to weep. I was wondering what was going on. It’s painful to see women weep. It’s even more painful to watch old women weep. It’s even devastating to witness old and sick women weep! These women were in their 60s, 70s and 80s and above.

They were suffering from ailments common at their age; diabetes, hypertension, other cardiovascular diseases and rheumatism. But it turned out the old mamas were not weeping for themselves.

They were corroborating another old woman’s lamentations. The old woman was lamenting about the poor services at the hospital. She was lamenting about the arrogant attitude of some of the nurses at the hospital.

That same day I almost picked up a quarrel with a nurse who was arrogantly raining insults on a sick woman old enough to be her grandmother. This haughty attitude of nurses in the country has been going on for long and it is time the powers that be put a check on this.

Some years back when I was taking care of my sick sister in the hospital, I witnessed how a critically ill patient was brought to the hospital and she almost died because of the negligence of the nurse on duty.

While the family members of the patient waited in the ward for the nurse who was on night duty to come and administer the drip that had been prescribed, the nurse was busy painting her fingernails.

It only took the intervention of an elderly man for the nurse to reluctantly attend to the patient who was apparently dying. There is no gainsaying the fact that many patients have died in Cameroon’s hospitals due to the negligence of health personnel.

Come to think of it, most of our hospitals are in dilapidated structures constructed by our colonial masters. Some even have equipment dating back to 1964 when they were constructed.

A few weeks back I was to spend the night in a public hospital with a friend who was sick. I was finally driven away by mosquitoes that invaded the ward. I wonder if people go to these hospitals to be treated or to be infected with malaria.

For months, the Buea general hospital ran without water. Patients had to move out of the hospital premises to fetch water. Some hospitals which originally had 200 beds, now can only boast of 50, most of them without beddings. Everything in our healthcare system just seems to be going down the drain.

In fact, Cameroon’s hospitals have become transition centres where patients simply go to die.

Again, essential specialists such as surgeons, cardiologists, neurologists, etc are basically concentrated in the cities of Yaounde and Douala. This impedes equity in administering life-saving healthcare to the entire nation.

In the current state of affairs, ‘respond time’ to an emergency situation, e.g. an epidemic outbreak, is very slow due to the various bureaucratic bottlenecks. For instance, during the 2001 meningitis outbreak in Menchum division in the North West, it took almost 2 – 3 weeks for action to be taken in the field.

Meanwhile, others in the health delivery system such as the private-for-profit or so-called private clinics, Mission Hospitals and NGOs are supposed to fill the gaps left by government ineptitude. But the private clinics exist only in small, profitable market niches and most of them (especially those not run by qualified doctors) appear to be selling drugs and laboratory tests but not diagnostic services.

How supervised most of their activities are, is a big cause for concern. Some of these so-called health centres have been transformed into abortion hubs and their proprietors are making brisk business destroying the wombs of and even killing our young girls.

At the same time, the over-zealousness of the mission hospitals to always be on top even in the face of dwindling resources has led to employment of less qualified staff oftentimes by hospital administrators with very little medical knowledge.

The health personnel need serious re-orientation. It is noticeably clear that de-motivation has resulted from numerous salary cuts, low staff strength that worsens health conditions, unavailability of essential working materials, etc. This has given birth to corrupt practices, the unscrupulously squeezing of meagre money out of poor patients, unlawful trade in drugs and other medical essentials, complete lack of concern to patients’ plight and total negligence to repairs.

No doubt our hospitals have turned into dilapidated structures with the stench of an old abattoir.

The provision of emergency services is staggering. A critical accident victim, who is rushed to a hospital and has no money on him, stands very slim chances of surviving.

Will I be wrong to say that the Cameroon Medical Council and Nursing Council are totally neglecting their responsibilities of protecting patients and guiding their members?

If not, then how can one explain that a Doctor trained anywhere in the world gets a license to practice in Cameroon without proving his ability; that a Doctor even without a license to practice medicine in Cameroon goes about his job with no qualms?

No doubt the sector has been invaded by quacks parading themselves as qualified medical personnel. Some time ago somebody who had been working in a hospital in Bamenda claiming to be a medical doctor was only discovered to be an impostor several years after.

I wonder how many patients he had killed by dishing out unqualified medical prescriptions. Nowadays even illiterate medicine sellers in the quarters are called “Doctor”. And they consult and prescribe drugs!

Only God will save us from this carnage. God bless Cameroon.