By Walter Wilson Nana
Dr. John Chuwanga is retired but not tired. This Nigerian and Kenyan trained Surgeon has rave reviews across the Southwest Region and beyond. Retired from the public service and serving with the health department of the Buea Diocese, iCameroon.com caught up with him for this exclusive interview. Amongst the many issues raised, he advocates for a review of the training of medical doctors in Cameroon and the accompanying personnel. Read on!
Dr. John Ndengue Chuwanga, who’s he?
I was born in Tiko, grew up in Malende, went to Catholic Primary School, Malende, moved on to St. Joseph College, Sasse for secondary education, will do high school at Cameroon College of Arts & Science, CCAS Kumba before jetting off to Nigeria where I did undergraduate medicine at the University of Calabar. I will be back to Cameroon in 1987 and joined the public service. I began working in Nkongsamba. After a work stint, I decided to go in for specialisation at the University of Nairobi in Kenya where I did general surgery. I came back and continued with the public service, occupied the position of Director, Buea Regional Hospital and Southwest Regional Delegate of Public Health. Now, I’m retired from the public service but practicing in the private sector.
Why did you choose the health sector?
Dr John Ndengue Chuwanga
Many factors came in. As a child, when I used to go to the hospital, I loved this spell, mixture of wounds and betadine. Before my father died, he wrote in his Will that his strong wish is that I become a medical doctor. He noted that even if I should get a loan and do that it should be done. He was a farmer and did not leave behind any wealth for us. So, I had to work hard to get that wish come to fruition. I wrote the CUSS Entrance Examination twice and will not make it. So, I went to Nigeria and met my brother Kevin Njomo, who played a key role in my stay and success of my studies. The day I was filling the JAMB Form, I had in my mind Agriculture as first choice but Njomo insisted that I should put medicine, saying I will have to come and treat him in Cameroon someday.
Today, where is your satisfaction tilted; your father or yourself?
I thank God for my father and those who encouraged me to read medicine. I have put in my best. I hear there are a lot of accolades about me though nothing on earth is perfect. But I am satisfied for what I have been able to do and thank God for the energy.
From your modest background, how did you manage your stay in Nigeria as an undergraduate student in medicine?
We were lucky during our time that the FCFA currency was stronger then. We paid our fees in Naira and not Dollars. A FCFA 100,000 then after exchange into Naira was a lot of money to do many things. Foreigners were accommodated without problems. In the medical school, we had no time for parties and clubbing. Unlike today that in a medical school, people go on holidays for two months, then, the most we had was two weeks. This will be followed with three major exams. It was a rigorous programme. You were told in school that as a medical student, you have been ‘imprisoned’ to study and if you are not ready, you can opt out anytime, even at the 5th year if you are not ready for the tight schedule. It was a demanding study programme.
From Nigeria to Kenya, the experience in the latter?
Done with medical school in Nigeria, I stayed on for two years. I went to the Murtala Muhamed Hospital in Kano, where I had a wealth of experience. We had all type of illnesses; drugs for patients were free of charge. I came back to Cameroon, applied to join the public service and within three months I was recruited. The Minister of Public Health then was the late Prof. Victor Anomah Ngu. My first post was Nkongsamba and subsequently others, where I served as General Practitioner for seven years. I enjoyed it, everywhere I went to; Wum, where I was District Medical Officer for three years and Limbe. After that I decided to pursue the new developments in medicine, considering the evolution in the sector. I applied to the University of Nairobi in Kenya to read Surgery. I was offered the opportunity without an interview just my CV. I was fortunate. While in school in Kenya, If your Professors found out that you were a good student, most of the surgical operations you will do them as they accompany you in supervising. So, in Kenya, I gathered a lot of experience doing surgical operations.
Did you choose to read surgery or it was imposed?
I chose it and it was offered to me.
Why the choice to be a Surgeon?
After working as a general practitioner for many years and with the experience I had at a hospital in the Bauchi State in Nigeria, working on all the hernia, growth, glycaemia and more I began building the interest in surgery. Back to Cameroon and first stop in Nkongsamba, I was sent to manage the maternity, where I had to do caesarean surgery and others. There, my interest in surgery increased. From Nkongsamba, I was sent to Batcham subsequently to Wum. With the bad road network from Wum to Bamenda and with my colleague, we had no option than to manage some severe cases before we could refer to Bamenda. From Wum, I was redeployed to Limbe General Hospital and sent to the Surgical Department. With all these experiences, I concluded that surgery was a call for me, so, I had to perfect it by going back to school.
How will you describe these experiences of yours working across some parts of Cameroon?
I enjoyed my work in the public service, working in the suburbs and in the main towns as a General Practitioner and subsequently a Surgeon. It was a medley of promotional health, curative health, preventive health and more. I found myself in all. As Director of the hospital in Buea, I had to play the role of an administrator, handle the patients, the staff, the finance, staff discipline, see what the almoners are doing and other issues. It wasn’t easy in some situations but I sailed through. As a Surgeon, I had to do surgeries. At the Delegation of Public Health, I was supervising everybody under the health care system, the different disciplines and to read widely too.
Other components of health care are coming up; medical secretaries, geriatric nursing, heath care management and more. What are they contributing to the health sector?
We are where we are in Cameroon and we can’t remain there. We’ve to move forward. In other societies were things are organised and developing fast, all the aforementioned areas are important in the health sector. We don’t have Medical Secretaries in Cameroon. We choose anybody to write a medical report. It is not done elsewhere. Medical Secretaries are specially trained to do their job. Data is supposed to be well packaged and made available when needed. It is important in health and to facilitate research. The aforementioned fields are necessary in our health sector. It is foolhardy to resist them because they will eventually come in the health care delivery system.
Where is the problem in the Cameroon health sector? Absence of good policies or nonchalance by individuals?
Accepting new things is always a problem in the Cameroonian society. People are also not ready to give up bad habits. Policy makers must sit up. We’re not helping ourselves. We’ve to think out of the box and embrace new ideas.
How will you define Geriatric Nursing as a Medical Doctor?
In Geriatric, we’re dealing with the elderly. The elderly have specific problems. It might not be problems of health but just aging. There is a market for Geriatric Nursing abroad because people are trained. In Cameroon, we still have those family ties where everybody takes care of his or her old people. Progressively, we will get to that point where people don’t have the time and patience again to cater for their old father or mother. So, you must get somebody to do that and you will not get to the streets to get somebody. You will need a trained individual to that job. The communication involved is very important.
Is there a need for geriatric practice in Cameroon today, looking at our sociological set up?
We need them. Our society is evolving. We’re growing up without our children. In some homes now, the parents are there without the children. It will be an unfortunate situation for a parent to care for his children, bring them up properly and subsequently he/she has no trained or proper person to care for them later on in their lives. Very soon, we’ll not be able to care for our elderly people. It is better we start preparing for that now.
What are you doing with yourself now that you are retired from the public service?
I have had offers here and there, but I decided to settle with the Catholic Church in Buea, where the Bishop asked me to lay down my proposals. I did and he accepted to take me full time at the Mount Mary Health Centre, Buea. People are saying that I should open a clinic. An individual running a clinic is not the best. As it obtains elsewhere, it is better for about two Doctors to come together and run a clinic so that they work simultaneously without stressing each other. That way, the clinic will not collapse if one person is no more.
What’s your reading of the Cameroon Medical Corps?
We’ve a problem with our training. Suddenly, we’ve a plethora of medical schools in the country. The question is; how equipped are these schools? How staffed and updated are they? Should we continue to carry out half-baked training? After having been to Nigeria, Kenya and England, I know what a medical school is. You have to begin with the clinical laboratories when you get to a medical school. Do we have them in Cameroon? Government should supervise the medical schools we’ve in the country in terms of equipment, even the individuals who go to read medicine, the staffing and other specialised areas.
With the evolution of today’s society, should health still remain a preserve of the government?
In other parts of the world, the private sector is involved in health care management and training. There are some private institutions that are well structured and equipped but there is a need for a regulatory body. This should involve professionals from the government and private circles. That’s the point I’m making. We have to train our students well for them to be good medics if not we’re preparing the grounds for our untimely death.
As you ebb out of the scene, what’s your wish for the Cameroonian health sector?
We are lacking in some specialties. In a Region like the Southwest, we don’t have a Paediatrician, a resident NTCS Surgeon, an Internist and some others. Some of them have been trained but they are not there to serve the population. Many of them are on greener pastures elsewhere because of the stipends we receive in the country.
Is that a reason for a medical doctor to abandon his people for greener pastures elsewhere?
It is not! But one thing is certain; we must give importance to what we do. Why at 55, when I am experienced, well trained, needed most, yet I am sent on retirement. Why should a medical doctor go on retirement at 55? The country is pushing you out at the time you are most needed. It is an issue we should review in the country. The job of a medical doctor is demanding. The medical profession is risky but still one of the most humane in humanity. You must not be frustrated when you are into medicine. Not many people may be level-headed when they get into medicine. Even if you’ve decided to stay on with medicine, you must be able to cater for your own family too. My advice for anybody reading medicine and wishes to work in Cameroon is that they should not think they can make money out of it. They should think of helping while ensuring that they stay comfortable.
And the nursing trade?
They too need training. Many of them are doing a good job out there. But we need to constantly train them. They also need to be motivated and encouraged to be of good virtues, avoiding the malpractices that we know of and respect their code of ethics.
Anything to add?
Let my colleagues, nurses, para-medics, technicians, auxiliary staff know that it is an honour working somewhere in charge of the life of people. An intelligent action on your part can save a life and a careless action can take the life of somebody away. Make a name for yourself by doing the best you can, doing what you are supposed to do, endeavour to be accessible, cooperative, tolerant, patient and all humanly possible. Let your patient see you and be happy with you. Those ‘thank yous’ from patients constitute blessings in our lives. Let money come second. Let your act, your patient be the first in your mind.
Thank you Dr!
You are welcome.
Interviewed By Walter Wilson Nana
