Dr. Kinge Thompson Njie
-Director of the Bamenda Regional
Hospital
The President of the
Republic recognised you through the award of the medal of the Knight of Cameroon
Order of Valour recently but we want to know the first steps of the person who
has grown to become such a huge medical personality.
I have been a Medical Doctor since 1987. I am a medical
Doctor specialized in Infectious diseases and I have been doing just what I
think I have to do. Administratively I have headed the Regional Hospital in
Limbe and now Bamenda for the past two and half years. Through the years I have
been doing just what I think is normal for me to do. I have led a team of
wonderful doctors and nurses who accepted to share the vision that I have for
this hospital. Of course this vision is not my creation. It has been born from
the instructions of the Honourable Minister of Public Health His Excellency
Andre Mama Fouda who insists on quality Health Care. Within that context I have
been able to come up with a Situational Analyses for this hospital and we have
been working hand in hand not expecting that we will have this kind of
recognition. It is a pleasant surprise and we were not expecting it. It has
come and it is to tell everyone that when we concentrate just on what we have
to do it is seen from afar and the recognition we have had is motivational to
all of us and it should be with that kind of mind set that people must work.
Somebody like you who
has touched the two key hospitals in English speaking Cameroon; that is the
Limbe and the Bamenda Regional Hospitals is certainly in a position provide an
expert opinion on the general quality of health services in Cameroon generally
speaking and in English speaking Cameroon specifically.
There has been one issue coming on and on. Technically,
doctors and nurses are doing their work in all hospitals in Cameroon. There are
issues which are non-medical tilting towards ethics and morals which now down
play the technical quality of work that the doctors and nurses are doing. Some
of these issues are the lack of communication. Medical personnel do not
communicate enough with patients and their relatives and do not even
communicate enough within themselves. There are issues of non-respect of human
rights, downplaying the dignity of patients and their relatives when they come
to the hospitals and these are non-medical issues. These are responsible for almost
90% of the complains we get from hospitals. After the recent scandals we had
from hospitals and the stand the Minister of Public Health have taken and all
the instructions given down to all hospitals to be highly organised and to pay
a lot of attention to issues like the quality of reception given to our
patients I think a lot of things are going to change. When we encourage parent
welfare, side by side with the good technical work that we are doing a lot is
going to change for the better of all Cameroonians.
How optimistic are you
with the direction Cameroon is taking in the domain of health?
Cameroon is doing great. We are even spoilt. When you look at
what the Cameroon Government is doing so that her citizens remain healthy,
especially through Government hospitals and at the same time we are blaming the
government for being organised to put in place a social security system which
of course would have only come to give support and assistance to the Government.
Consultation fees in all Government Hospitals have remained at FCFA 600. Tell
me where else in the world do you have to see a doctor for a fee of just FCFA
600? I am not saying that we are not also having corrupt practices in these
hospitals but a corrupt practice is a corrupt practice and the government has
condemned all these practices. If any doctor or nurse is taking more than FCFA
600 for consultation especially when you have to see a General Practioner, then
such should take that responsibility for it is not government’s responsibility.
We are in the right direction but perhaps we are a little bit slow. I blame the
government for spoiling us. In other places people are paying and when they
pay, the social system is put in place. You always have two sides of the coin
in every situation and decision. So perhaps this is the time that the
government should be thinking of dropping off all the subsidies to Government
Hospitals and looking in the direction of putting up a social security system
where everybody pays and it will take care of bills in the different hospitals.
I think we are doing well but it is always good to have a good look before you
leap. I think this is the situation with Government.
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