Benjamin Ngah
Just about an hour drive from Bamenda, the
capital city of the North West region, St Martin De Poreres Catholic General
Hospital is located on the beautiful slopes of Njinikon in Boyo Division. The
ride through the beautiful hill and lush valleys carpeted in green grass
especially in the rainy season, the tarred fine road that meander round the
slopes, the fresh air emanating from the valleys and blowing across the hills
provide for a first aid relief to any patient visiting the hospital if so for
the first time. This warm beautiful scenery, captivating to the eye, soothing
for the mind and the fresh air radiating from the valleys are blended by the
warmth welcome typical of the Catholic Reverend Sisters who are the custodian
of the beautiful gem of a hospital.
The hospital,
according to Sister Olive Marie Ngah, the Matron of the hospital is own and run
entirely by the Tertiary Sisters of St Francis based in Shisong. The hospital,
which provides vast services to the public without any discrimination on
religious lines, color or race, is well equipped with the state of art modern
equipments. The infrastructure is vast, the services also vast and the hospital
can contain a good number of patients suffering from varied ailments at a go.
These
patients are catered for by six medical doctors. Three of these doctors are
specialists. That is there is a gynecologist, orthopedist (bone doctor) and a
general surgeon who takes care of all abdominal problems and other operations.
These three specialist combine skill and hard work to have the laudable result
the hospital have been having. The six medics, Rev. Sister Olive Marie (the
Matron) says, “attend to all patients from all backgrounds without
discrimination. They are dedicated and we can only praise God for their hard
work and the human touch they put in the discharge of their duty.” According to
her, “taking care of patients in a special way is taking care of Christ the
lord.”
Spiritually,
the Matron opines that all workers who are not necessarily Catholics are often
made to abide by a code of conduct which has to do with service for mankind
without distinction. “The issue here is not that of money. Money is not the
mission and aim of the hospital because no one can ever pay the nurse for the work
he or she does. Most of our patients are poor and cannot afford to pay their
bills. At times we depend on providence. This explains why we encourage people to
register in all health insurance like the Mutual health and the BEFA.
Enter the
Chief Medical officer, Dr. Eugene C
He believes
that without a healthy population, there can be no progress. This explains why
he, his team of doctors and collaborators work extra hard to make sure the
population stays healthy despite several challenges. One of the biggest
challenges, he says is taking care of children who are the most vulnerable in
society and are mostly inflicted by malaria. He says that these children
because of the constant malaria also develop other anemic complications. In adult, he states that the prevalent rate of
HIV is still a concern. This is evident in the fact that many people who come
to the hospital still suffer from opportunistic diseases like tuberculosis. “This
is a great challenge but we have been coping despite the difficulties. Ours is
a service and not a business.” He says. “If you see so many patients around, it
means the people are satisfied with what we have been doing and confidence has
been built over the period. We also have a lot of patients from other regions
and even abroad. So I think, we have been doing the job because we have doctors
within the hospital and other experts that have been coming from Europe to
fortify our team. That is why the output is so good and explains why the number
of patients keeps increasing as they come from all nooks.
Bone
Specialist
St Martin
De Porres Catholic General Hospital Njinikom is renowned for the treatment of
all kinds of bone complications including fractures and rickets or other poor
formation of the skeletal due to malnutrition. The hospital works in close
collaboration with SAJOCA in Bafut. That is all operations to straighten the
bones and other medical attention are done here in Njinikom and the patient is
sent to Bafut only for rehabilitation. The process in Bafut takes barely about
six weeks and the patient is ok.
Testimonies
Wouatsa Moffo Carelle, From Douala
She is eleven and has had problems with her
legs for this while. The father, Papa Wouatsa says he has moved round with her
to no avail until he was directed here. He first went to Bafut in SAJOCA but
was directed to come over here. “I came and the job was done and perfectly,” he
confesses. According to him, “what the doctors are doing here is like a miracle
and only God can be praised. I thank for them,” he prays.
Ngwery Judith, from Santa
She came in
with her young twins, Ngemfe Emmanuel and Fombaso Emmanuela. They were operated
upon because of leg bones malformation. According to her, the job done was
impeccable. I can only thank the sisters and the doctors who have helped me
with this my children. It is very cheap
here because I have paid only little,” she declares. “The type of care and
treatment we received here was too good. I thank them so very much for
directing us here.” She says.
The Hospital
and its Cooperate Social Responsibility
Apart from providing healthcare facilities, the hospital
staffs also move round from time to time to give free educative health talk on
several health related issues. Every third Wednesday of the month is reserved
for free consultation. During this period, everybody especially the villagers
fill the hospital and are consulted for free. Id diagnosed, they are also
quarterly required to pay just half of the normal amount for drugs and
laboratory tests. This has encouraged so many villagers and people across to do
voluntarily testing to diagnose and treat several health complications. There
is also an orphanage here in the hospital and the orphans benefit tremendously
from the hospital. They are offered free healthcare and several other benefits.
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