Officials say the state of health care in Cameroon is increasingly worrying, with thousands of doctors fleeing the Central African country in search of lucrative work elsewhere, especially in Europe and North America.
Officials say there has been a 70% increase in the number of people, including doctors, obtaining passports and applying for visas. In addition, 75% of the 1,000 doctors trained by the Cameroonian government every year are about to leave.
Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health reports that hundreds of doctors have signed up for what industry insiders see as a lucrative program to immigrate to Canada.In addition, the number of health workers, including physicians, who applied for the U.S. government’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (also known as the “Diversity Immigrant Visa Program” Green Card Lotteryis rising.
Doctors’ association Cameroon Medical Council said Cameroon’s doctor-to-patient ratio has dropped to one doctor per 50,000 people, instead of the ratio of one doctor per 10,000 patients recommended by the World Health Organization. The organization reports that doctors are fleeing to escape hardship, low wages, harsh working conditions and unemployment.
Dr. Peter Louis Ndifo, vice-president of the committee, said it was unfortunate that Cameroon had only trained thousands of doctors but not recruited them. He spoke to VOA by phone from the English-speaking town of Buea in southwestern Cameroon.
“The number of registered doctors on the register[s] The Cameroon Medical Council has about 13,000 members, but there are currently between 5,000 and 6,000 doctors in Cameroon,” he said. “Doctors leaving Cameroon is an eloquent testament to the fact that doctors are feeling unwell and that doctors are in trouble. ”
Cameroon says it currently needs at least 30,000 health workers, including doctors. The country is facing attacks by Boko Haram (killing more than 36,000 people), a separatist crisis (killing more than 6,000 people and displacing about 750,000 people), and the spread of sectarian violence from neighboring Central African Republic.
Cameroon’s Medical Council said the Central African country launched a program in 2013 to train about 1,000 doctors to improve the doctor-patient ratio, which at the time stood at one doctor for every 17,000 patients.
However, officials said the government recruits less than 100 doctors every year due to financial constraints. Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health said private hospitals are expected to recruit most of the doctors who graduated from medical schools, but private, community and church-owned hospitals also recruit less than 100 doctors each year.
Even if recruited, doctors said they would earn about $100 a month in private hospitals and about $220 a month in government hospitals.
Jathor Godlove, 29, is an unemployed doctor. After seven years of medical school at the University of Bamenda in Cameroon, he said difficulties forced him to consider leaving the country.
“I found myself very limited in my ability to help my family,” he said. “I’ve even had colleagues who ventured out of medicine because they thought as a doctor, when you go somewhere and provide services, they’re going to help you.” Will tell you they want to pay you 50,000 [Central African CFA] one month franc [around $80 U.S.],It’s interesting. Some of them have families and when they find themselves in this situation they see better opportunities abroad. I don’t think you can blame them. ”
He said poor working conditions – including a lack of hospital equipment and meager wages – were forcing nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians, along with doctors, to leave Cameroon for Europe and North America.
However, some medical staff who are unable to leave Cameroon provide volunteer services in hospitals such as Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s northwest English-speaking region.
Dr. Denis Nsam, director of Bamenda Regional Hospital, said the number of unemployed health workers outnumbered those employed by the government.
“At the Bamenda Regional Hospital, of the 600 staff, only 146 are state-employed, we consult an average of 45,000 patients per year, we perform approximately 1,900 surgeries per year, we have delivery [of babies] It’s close to 250 to 300 a month,” Nsame said.
Cameroon’s Medical Council said some health workers, including doctors, sometimes went months without wages. Many health workers rely on donations from well-wishers and patients and consulting fees to make ends meet.
On February 11 last year, Cameroonian President Paul Biya said in a speech to Cameroonian young people that the growing desire of young people to immigrate is increasingly worrying. He said Cameroonians should be patriotic and serve their motherland because the country is facing difficulties and leaving is not the solution.
Doctors and other health workers say the president should improve their living conditions and hospital equipment if he wants to curb immigration.
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