“The
Nkwen Sub-Divisional “Medicalised” Centre aka PMI Nkwen now has a brand new
face.”
Dr.
Iwu David- Director
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| D.O. Sone Clement Ngoe (in brown) and Dr. Iwu David(in black suit) Both at front center in group photo with staff . |
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Doctor Iwu David,
Director of the Nkwen “Medicalised” Centre popularly referred to as PMI Nkwen
has declared that the outfit now has a completely new look. He was speaking
recently within the confines of the hospital at Nkwen during the maiden contact
tour of the Divisional Officer of Bamenda III Sub Division Sone Clement Ngoe.
The Hospital Director presented the new face of the hospital in glowing terms
and took out time to showcase the new services of this hospital which many
still wrongly believe is the small health centre they have known all over the
years. He begins by expressing his gratitude to the D.O. of Bamenda III for
paying them a visit after his very short stay at the helm of the Sub-Division.
He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante of EDEV News. Excerpts:
"We are at the Nkwen
Sub Divisional “Medicalised” Centre. It is not a Health Center but a Sub
Divisional “Medicalised” Center. I have been here just for about five months
and I am very impressed that just shortly after taking over office, the D.O.
for Bamenda III Sone Clement Ngoe took out time to visit us. We used the
opportunity to present to him the new face of the hospital by letting him see
the new departments and newly introduced services at the hospital. Most people
around the residential area in which the hospital is located are not yet aware
of the facilities that it can offer.
What
is the strength and capacity of the Nkwen Sub Divisional Medical Centre?
This hospital has its
strength mostly in Mother and Child Care. We have the highest number of women
coming for antenatal care; about 800 women come here each month and over a
thousand children. We also have more than a hundred women coming here each
month for deliveries. We have other facilities that have been introduced into
the hospital and averagely 1200 to 1600 consultations take place each month. So
every time that you come here, there are always medical Doctors that will take
care of you.
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| In the heart of the Dental Department with a state of the art equipment |
All our departments are functional 24 hours with doctors available
throughout. There is no time when we are unable to take care of a patient. Our
only challenge now is a problem of space and we made this known to the
Divisional Officer. For a hospital which began modestly providing child and
mother care, the infrastructure can certainly not meet up with the new services
and facilities that have been introduced. There is the need therefore for
additional infrastructure and staff considering the rapidly growing population
in Bamenda. There is the need for us to have an ambulance because a woman can
urgently be in need of some specific delivery services and we may need to take
her to the General Hospital, to Mbingo or BBH. This need is heightened by the
social unrest at the moment in Bamenda.
We
understand that the new look of this medical center has seen the introduction
of a Dental Department.
Yes it has been our
intention to add other things that the initial structure could not offer. We
now have a dental unit with a dental surgeon and dental nurses that are
available to overcome whatever challenges. We also have a physiotherapy unit
where all those who have muscle problems can be taken care of. We
have also established a Non-Communicable Disease Unit where we take care of
cases of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and other diseases of old age and
obesity. So we are offering the population the possibility of coming and
benefitting from these services. We equally have several doctors of several
competences and now we are able to run several tests which could not be run
before. We are able to run tests that have to do with body hormones. If you
find yourself in a hospital where you can’t do your tests then you should come
to us at the Nkwen Medical hospital where we carry out lab tests on a wide
range of domains.
Could
you hint on the lodging facilities at the hospital at the moment? How is it an
improvement of the past?
PMI Nkwen can house
65 patients and now with the new mother and child unit we are able to
hospitalize 25 more patients. This means that on the average we can hospitalise
about 90 patients within the hospital. Every week we have almost 150 occupied
bed places as people come in and go out. Feel free to come here for admission
because we have private and semi private rooms. If you move around the premises
you will see that we have water system toilets and external pit toilets. We
have brought in more cleaners and the hospital is cleaned twice a day; at 4
a.m. in the morning and at mid-day so cleanliness in the hospital premises is
guaranteed.
What
message do you have for the people of Nkwen and Bamenda at large?
I want to tell them
that we have come to add to the quality of services offered at this hospital. I
believe that you cannot criticize a system that you have not personally tried
to improve upon. I call upon them to come and see for themselves what has been
done to improve upon the quality of this hospital. I wouldn’t want to see
patients leaving Bamenda III to go elsewhere when we have the best right here
with us.
Interviewed By Ekongang Nzante Lenjo
EDEV Web News: Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/Tel: +237696896001/ +237678401408
