The Cameroon Medical Doctors Trade Union (Symec) has again announced a general strike action in all public hospitals from June 12, 2017. Symec says the strike is part of the third phase of their action, despite the numerous stonewalls erected by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government.

Cameroon doctors have made public four major demands which include the establishment of basic health insurance with universal coverage; Wage increases for physicians in the public sector, suspension of non-salary physician assignments, and an increase in the retirement age of physicians between the ages of 55 and 65.

The Francophone Minister of Public Health, tried to break the actions of the doctors by assigning in the remote areas, the leaders of the union, whose calls to strike are very closely monitored by the vicious regime in Yaoundé.

By Sonne Peter

Cameroon Concord News

A free consultation campaign for smokers has been launched at the Cite Verte District Hospital in Yaoundé. The two-day campaign that began on the 22nd May 2017 was initiated by the Cameroonian Coalition for Tobacco Control (C3T) as part of activities ahead of the World No Tobacco Day on the 31^st of May 2017. Commemorative activities are holding under the theme, “Tobacco: A threat to development.”

According to the Communication Officer of C3T, Caleb Ayong the health campaign aims at informing smokers on the damage caused by smoking and the importance of constant medical check-up and follow-up treatment. He also stated that tobacco is a deadly product that kills half of all its consumers, adding that many ignore the devastating effects of tobacco because they are not immediate.

The Cameroonian Coalition for Tobacco Control’s Communication Officer expressed the wish that by the end of the campaign, Tuesday 23rd May, many smokers would have turned up for the free consultation and take necessary measures to get adequate treatment.

According to a communiqué signed by the President of the C3T, Dr Flore Ndembiyembe, sensitization stickers will be distributed to inter-urban transporters on 30th May and a Poster Exhibition dubbed the Shocking Truth will be organized at the Cercle Municipale, Bonanjo in Douala on 31st May 2017.

Source: CRTV

André Mama Fouda, the Francophone Minister of Public Health, has decided to send a neurologist and a neurosurgeon to a health center, which is devoid of any equipment, and is housed in small locality of barely 500 inhabitants, whereas these specialists are rare in the large cities hosting several millions of people.

In a typical Francophone style of governance, these young doctors, some of whom are teachers and researchers, will no longer be able to pursue their research or offer courses to their students. The only crime committed by these doctors particularly, Dr. Bassong is that he is the leader of the Cameroon Medical Union (Symec), which has called for a strike action to fix the country’s public health system.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that for three months, Cameroonian doctors have observed three days of strike, widely followed, by all medics throughout the national territory.  The doctors are calling  for the introduction of universal health coverage in order to improve the supply of care and to ensure equal access to care for all Cameroonians from all walks of life.

SYMEC inter alia is also calling for a salary increment for doctors in the public sub-sector, the suspension of assignments for unpaid medics and the implementation of an accelerated processing procedure for their integration files including an increase in the retirement age of doctors from 55 to 65 years.

In the face of the doctors’ grumbling, the government seems to have decided to asphyxiate the strikers, through disciplinary measures, with the sole objective of decapitating the union, which is advocating the end of a policy whereby some few privileged patients are ferried abroad for treatment in a nation where a little more than 8000 Cameroonian doctors have moved outside the national borders.

Minister Mama Fouda has pushed his cynicism further, by banning last Sunday the broadcasting on a private and state television a message from Symec in which the latter had explained the motivations behind the strike action.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The first Ebola outbreak since the crisis in West Africa that killed 11,300 people has been declared in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization said Friday, after the virus caused three deaths in the area. In a television address, Health Minister Oly Ilunga confirmed the cases while urging the population “not to panic.”

The country “has taken all necessary measures to respond quickly and efficiently to this new outbreak,” he said. The DR Congo outbreak is the first there in three years. The three deaths all occurred since April 22. The WHO said it was working closely with DR Congo authorities to help deploy health workers and protective equipment in the remote area, which is difficult for teams to access, in order to “rapidly control the outbreak.”

The organization underlined the importance of tracing people who had contact with confirmed victims to prevent the disease spreading. Sufferers are advised to keep themselves isolated while awaiting treatment for a disease whose incubation period is 21 days.

The WHO said the outbreak, the eighth to date in DR Congo, had affected an equatorial forest region difficult to access in Bas-Uele province, bordering Central African Republic. The last instance of Ebola in Congo in 2014, which was not linked to an outbreak in neighboring states at the time, was quickly contained and killed 49 people according to official figures.

That outbreak saw 66 registered cases hit the district of Boende some 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of Kinshasa for an official fatality rate of 74.2 percent. The United Nations at the time saluted the “immense work” DR Congo authorities had put in to contain the disease spread. In 2013, an Ebola crisis began in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Source: Presstv

The pavilion Samuel Eto’o, constructed in the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala in the economic metropolis, will be received today Monday by André Mama Fouda, the Francophone Minister of Public Health. Cameroon Concord News learnt that the building is a goodwill donation from Samuel Eto’o Foundation.

The new pavilion, “Samuel Eto’o”, whose construction lasted some ten years, was equipped by the foundation and will be used for emergency and pediatric resuscitation.  The former veteran of the indomitable lions recently thanked all who have supported him in the realization of the project which should contribute to the development of health services in French Cameroun.

By Fru James

Andre Mama Fouda, the Francophone Minister of Public Health who blatantly refused to hand over mosquito nets to the Anglophone regions donated by the World Health Organization was in the North West recently pretending to launch the construction of a Teaching Hospital in Bamenda. Mama Fouda who hails from the Mfoundi constituency in Yaoundé made up of 44 families and having 4 ministerial positions said his mission to Southern Cameroon was to lay the foundation stone for a new Regional University Teaching Hospital at the Ntambang neighborhood, Bemenda III Sub Division.

Minister Fouda was not alone as his Beti Ewondo kinsman, Jacques Fame Ndongo, the anti Anglophone Minister for Higher Education was also busy commissioning the construction of 4 new building for the University of Bamenda. Our senior correspondent in Bamenda hinted that the Wednesday 3rd May 2017 events were all aimed at countering the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and that the Biya Francophone regime was not interested in seeking an end to the Anglophone crisis.

The Minister Andre Fouda project estimated at FCFA 15 billion is to erect and equip a modern day health facility featuring 121 hospital beds. Fouda revealed that the ultra-modern facility will offer services that include; Obstetrics, Cardiology, Neurology, Dentistry, CD scanning, delivery rooms, medical and surgical hospitalization, intensive care units and many more.

For the second time in the history of Southern Cameroon, a sitting cabinet minister announced that a project will be completed in 18 months. As a reminder, the late Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi had told the Manyu people that he was going to tar the Kumba-Mamfe road in 18 months.

The Francophone political elite also added that the hospital was a special gift from the Head of State to the region. Minister Mama Fouda emphasized on government’s commitment to ensure that the project is delivered within the prescribed time frame.

By Rita Akana

Some 30 medical volunteers from several countries including Cameroon have provided free medical consultation to about 500 patients suffering from epilepsy, diabetes, skin infection and other endemic diseases in Lebialem constituency in Southern Cameroons.

The health campaign was orchestrated by a US based organization- the Gabriel Bebong Betchem Foundation for Epilepsy and Mental Health and was staged on the weekend of 21st April 2017, at the Mary Health of Africa Hospital Fontem.

The medics who took participated observed that the purpose of the campaign was to help the poor and the needy. The team was led by Dr. George Gwelle, a Cameroonian, and winner of a CNN Hero award for his combating epilepsy in Cameroon.

The Syndicat des Médecins du Cameroun (SYMAC) has followed the example of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium by making public a situation report on its strike action that started on Monday throughout the national territory against the wishes of the Biya Francophone government. The trade union grouping medical doctors also say that the rate of disengagement in hospitals reached a satisfactory percentage.

Medical doctors in Cameroon were called to observe a strike call from Monday 17 April to Wednesday 19 April 2017 in all the hospitals of the country. The medics are clamoring for salary increment and the improvement of their working conditions.  SYMEC members came to the conclusion during their Monday evaluation meeting that the strike was not fully followed but however announced that it was successful.

Below is a summary of the situation report in the hospitals at the end of yesterday strike action as revealed by Ndoudoumou Patrick Christian, General Secretary of SYMEC:

Maroua Regional Hospital: Consultation and appointments canceled

Garoua Regional Hospital: Consultations and Appointments canceled

Ngaoundere Regional Hospital: Ineffective strike

Bertoua Regional Hospital: 70% of doctors respected the strike

Yaounde Central Hospital: Strike in Maternity, Infectiology, Surgery, Diabetology, Neurology and Day Hospital Services

Yaounde General Hospital: Strike by all doctors except two external consultants

Yaounde CHU: Strike observed by all general practitioners

HGOPY: Strike observed by 50% of doctors

CURY: dedicated to emergencies therefore functional

Douala General Hospital: 60% of doctors on strike

Hôpital laquintinie:  Several services including cardiology and pediatrics on strike

Bonassama District Hospital: Strike observed by all doctors

Nkongsamba District Hospital: Effective strike among all doctors

Ebolowa Regional Hospital: Strike observed by all doctors

Bamenda Regional Hospital: Strike observed by all doctors

Bafoussam Regional Hospital: Strike respected by 20% of doctors

Bagangté District Hospital: Strike respected by all doctors except the director

At least 150 people have died of malaria in Zimbabwe over the past two months, with nearly 90,000 infections recorded, a government official said Monday, blaming the upsurge on intense rains. “We have seen increased cases of malaria due to the more rains received this year that increased the breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” Joseph Mberikunashe, the malaria director in the ministry of health, told AFP.

Mberikunashe said 151 deaths and 89,261 malaria cases had been recorded in the past two months following heavy rains that also caused deadly floods. He said that while a rise in malaria cases was expected after the rains, some of the deaths may have been caused by delays in seeking medical care.

 “The deaths are caused by lack of access to health facilities,” he said. The most affected regions of the country are in the south where floods cut off access to health clinics. Heavy rains battered the southern African country from December until the end of February, leaving 246 people dead and at least 2,000 people homeless across the country while homes and schools were damaged and several dams burst. The government has issued an international appeal for aid.