Interviewed by Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon.
The government of Cameroon via the Ministry of Higher Education is set to revitalise the country’s health sector. After the inaugural ceremony of another teaching block and second wing of the faculty of health sciences, University of Buea, UB, by the Minister of Higher Education, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, he told Icameroon.com in this interview that Cameroon’s health institutions are undergoing a modernisation process with a twist to fit in with the realities on the ground.
Excerpts:
Done with the first two wings of the Faculty of Health Sciences would be Pentagon structure of five wings, when will construction for the remaining three wings begin?
Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, Cameroon's Minister of Higher Education.
It is certain; we will build the remaining three wings. I noted that in my speech during the inaugural ceremony of the second wing. Government has money. We have a project that we are following progressively. Next year, we will embark on the other wings. There is no stopping. It is our objective in the Ministry of Higher Education to give a facelift to our higher education institutions. These are important projects we are giving serious considerations to. We hope to get done in the next two years.
What is the government doing to get rid of quacks in the health institutions across the country?
The President of the Republic, Paul Biya, has given us prescriptions on how to improve on the quality of training of medical personnel across the country. We will do all we can, with the support of our Vice Chancellors to flush out the bad practices. My Ministry has taken a commitment in that perspective to ensure sanity in the training of health personnel. Recently, the Prime Minister created the National Commission for the training of Medical Doctors and Pharmacists. They have begun work already and have gone ahead to select six higher institutions across Cameroon to train medical doctors and pharmacists. These include four state institutions and two from the private sector. The national examinations to gain admissions into the first year of medicine to these six institutions have started. The exceptional entrance examinations for the second and third year medicines and that for the fourth year of medicine have been written already. The entrance examination for those to do houseman ship in some hospitals across the country will be written on November 23 2013. Measures are in place to ensure that we have good quality doctors and nurses in our hospitals and other health structures. The National Commission for the training of Medical Doctors and Pharmacists is the watchdog structure to make sure that the good quality we are all looking out for is preserved. The commission has the responsibility to see that we have well trained doctors, pharmacists and dentists who will take care of the realities in Cameroon, but who are also competitive in the health sector training across the world.
When will construction of the teaching hospital for the faculty of health sciences, UB take off?
Let me express my gratitude for the good job that has been done already. The University of Buea PRO-ACT Project has already experienced a 54 percent realisation. As we look forward to more public investment budget, we will finish the 46 percent still to be done; the amphitheatre and the administrative block. We have no doubts about that. Before the close of next year, we shall be done with the aforementioned projects. These are strong engagements taken by the Head of State and the government of Cameroon to give the municipality of Buea, a befitting faculty of medicine. The state has started; the state will not stop until all the requests made by UB authorities are met. The teaching hospital you have raised will be done with, in the nearest future, looking at the availability of our budget. The experts have told us the various projects enumerated can take five years to be completed. Therefore, with our seriousness, we can do that before the five years elapse.
