BY NDUMBE BELL GASTON IN DOUALA
Last week’s visit by three ministers from Yaounde with the mission to evaluate the work done since the docking of the mobile hospital boat in Douala Port came at a time when opinions were on the rise on why a ship would last for up to 10 months in the country to treat or attend to about 5000 patients only.
After the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda and the Minister of Women’s Affairs and Family Mme Marie Therese Abena Ondoa, visited Mercy Ships to see things for themselves last Thursday September 14, a press conference was organized in order to brief the public on the balance sheet so far attained by the medical experts in their different domains and what remains to be done, after this one month of stay since August 16.
Issa Tchiroma, the Mincom, declared that out of 30 patients earmarked or listed to undergo surgery or plastic surgery, 14 of them had already returned home treated. Unlike what was originally decided that only 6000 patients would be consulted, more than 12.000 have been earmarked for treatment.
It was revealed that due to lack of the wherewithal in Mercy Ships, All those who are eligible and selected for treatment may not be treated because of logistic problems cited. For example, the Minister of Communications said that only five blocks were available for operational activities and that certain pathological cases were very serious and complex and necessitated further and regular diagnosis and would need more time than the time frame given.
Here, the Minister of Public Health, in bid to keep the public hoping, said those who will not benefit from Mercy Ships will have their names listed in a directory while awaiting many other similar programs that are being conceived by the ministry.
Other cases that were highly expected to have numerical superiority instead dropped. Out of 500 women awaited for cases such as fistula, only 300 have been selected. For those suffering from cases of ophthalmology or eye problems, 2950 patients are yet to be selected, mainly for Douala residents as from now to September ending but treatment will only restart as from the first week of October.
The Public Health Minister is said to have dropped some questions related to the draconian growth on the number of patients and whether Mercy Ships will actually last here for 10 months.