Dr. Tasang Andrew: Obstetrician Gynecologist, lecturer at Medical School, of the University of Buea

“When you leave medical school in Cameroon you earn just 400 dollars per month”

Doctor Tasang Andrew is one of those Cameroonian medical practitioners with a wide range of experiences that have seen him working across the National Triangle called Cameroon, in Africa as well as in Europe through the participation in medical rendezvous amongst other things. Now having cruised through a spicy medical career gathering a lot of national, African and European experience, the seasoned medical practitioner now teaches at the Medical School of the University of Buea.

Dr. Tasang Andrew

 That aside, he also runs a Non Governmental Organisation; the Atlantic Medical Foundation at Mutengene within the Tiko Municipality in Fako Division. The main aim of running this outfit as he puts it is make health services available to needy Cameroons at affordable rates.

This self effacing personality was born in Bamenda the Capital city of the North West Region of Cameroon and grew up in the neighborhood of Sonac Street in this same city. He went to primary school in Bamenda and Yaounde. Doctor Tasang eventually went to secondary school in Yaounde and later on went to Medical School at the University of Yaounde known as CUSS. After graduating in 1991 his rich medical career began with a posting to Djoum in the Dja and Lobo Division as the District Medical Officer for the Djoum District. The strategic nature of Djoum is further highlighted he said by the fact that the town is located at the frontiers with the Republic of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. From Djoum, Dr. Tasang was transferred to Fontem in the Lebialem Division as the Chief Medical Officer and District Medical Officer. After working there for a couple of years, he was transferred to Tiko where he presently resides as the Director of the Tiko District Hospital Tiko and at the same time the District Medical Officer. This reporter carried out an elaborate interview with this medical person and the entire interview is published below.

Records show that you’ve had a reasonable international experience as a medical Doctor. Tell us about it.

I left Cameroon for Belgium to write an International Examination from which I emerged as the best of all who took part in this exam. We Cameroonians have an advantage that we don’t seem to always take advantage of. In Belgium only French is spoken so everything was done in French. However, a second language was needed and indicated that English was my second language. When we had finished the written part, the conductors of the examination on opening my file saw that my second language was English. Well in a bid to boost the image of my country I told them that ours was a bilingual country. I was recruited to work and my work was accompanied by a lot of training among which were Emergency Surgery, Emergency Obstetrics and Gynecology and Emergency Medicine. I was later sent to Burundi as Director of Medecins Sans Frontiers in the Karosi Region where I was the only Doctor. Everybody ran away during the crises including three doctors from Switzerland whom I replaced. I gained a lot of experience working in Burundi with Medecins Sans Frontiers.

 

You have gone into private practice and you are trying to put in your own contribution after gathering all this experience to better the health landscape of Cameroon. How has the adventure been in the private sector?

There is no easy journey and everybody should pick up his courage. If you are afraid to climb up the mountain you will not know the treasures reserved for you there. I had to foot my journey bravely. This structure where we are; the Atlantic Medical Foundation is an NGO inspired by my experience out of the country. It is a full-fledged hospital. When I opened the NGO, I was again appointed as District Medical Officer in Nylon, Douala. From there I went and specialized and came back. Today I am a lecturer at the University of Buea teaching Obstetrics and Gynecology. I do this alongside the affairs of the NGO which I do with many others with whom I run the initiative.

As a nation builder in the health sector, what are the problems that you can identify in the health or medical sector?

I don’t know if I am radical if I were to say that our system is bankrupt. What we have now in Cameroon is not acceptable. The first reason is that there is poverty. You cannot imagine that people are sick and they can’t buy drugs for 2000 FCFA. There are people in Cameroon who cannot eat and when they come to Government Hospitals it is unbelievable. I call on the Government to institute some sort of social security system because what we are seeing is horrible. You certainly remember what happened in Douala with regards to the Monique Koumateke issue. Although the medical personnel had nothing to do with it, the base line is poverty. This lady had no Ante Natal Care because she was poor. I will like to propose something to the Government. In 2013 Cameroonians consumed 600 million liters of beer. If the Government were to tax even 3FCFA per bottle, it will give us more than 400 million FCFA and that alone will be able to change the health sector. People cannot come to the hospital and when they fall sick they turn to traditional medicine and herbs. Now there is a new trend. “Men of God” is the dominant thing at the moment but we know that most of them are tricksters. Many sick people because of the lack of means to treatment turn to these “Men of God” and end up dying. The Government should look into that sector.

How can a simple Cameroonian out there benefit from the facility that you run?

Atlantic Medical Foundation is self sustained but the prices are down to earth. We want to assist those who don't have. For the moment if any person out there or anywhere in the world want to help us, they are welcome. This may help the prices to further go down. And permit us to offer some services for free. 

How is your experience as a lecturer in the University of Buea?

It’s been wonderful. You know imparting knowledge to the young ones is just wonderful. I see a lot of passion, determination and patience as well. I think teaching is the best job. I am an Obstetrician Gynecologist so I belong to the Faculty of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology.

How hopeful are you as far as the health sector in Cameroon is concerned?

The Government has a lot to do to improve on the health sector and there is a lot of injustice against health personnel in Cameroon. Look at our brothers the teachers. When they leave the Ecole Normale Superieur in Bambili, which is the GCE Advanced Levels plus three years, they work and go on retirement at 60. A Doctor has the Advanced Level and afterwards goes to school for seven years but goes on retirement at the age of 55. The worse thing is that if you have to go and specialize it’s at least four years so you go to school for 11 years after the A levels and go on retirement at the age of 55 years. There is gross injustice against the medical personnel in Cameroon. The Magistrates go on retirement at 70. Cameroon is the only country where we have more Medical Doctors practicing outside the country than inside. We are about 4000 Doctors in Cameroon but Cameroon has more doctors abroad. We have more doctors outside. I was tempted to remain but since I am a nation builder I decided to come back. I had a lot of opportunities. But OI thought it was better to come back to your country and build it. When you leave medical school in Cameroon you earn just 400 dollars per month which is just about 160.000 FCFA. This is scandalous and indeed an insult to the intellect. At the same time, you will see a Corporal or a Sergeant earning 250 to 300.000 FCFA per month with the First School Leaving Certificate. So in Cameroon a Sergeant or Corporal with just a First School Leaving Certificate earns more than a medical doctor. Where are we going to? Why have we changed the values of this country? This country wasn’t like this.

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Shey George Forgwei; the Geoscientist/Petroleum Engineer, Civil Servant and University Guru.

You are among the finest of professionals in your domain and even after retiring from Public Service you are still doing your thing. Our readers would like to know who you are and those first steps that you took.

Shey George Forgwei

People call me George Forgwei but I prefer to be called Shey because when your people have honoured you traditionally you need to respect them. I was born in the middle of the fifties in Noni, Bui Division in the North West Region of Cameroon to my old man Pah Timothy Nfi and to my mother Elizabeth Kisum. I was the second in a family of eight and a first son. We struggled and I had a good education and with good university degrees I spent a good career in the Public Service in which I ended up as the Regional Delegate in the North West. After leaving, I had so many opportunities to do other things but I preferred to teach and I was the sole lecturer in Petroleum Engineering in the Cameroon Christian University in Bali and also in the Catholic University CATUC in Bamenda. But at the same time, I had other callings and that’s why I am a consultant also working for Kendelly Constructions in Bamenda.

Can we take a look at the educational trajectory of Shey George Forgwei?

Yes my primary education was in Kumbo at the Cameroon Baptist Convention Primary School, CBC. My Secondary Education was at the Joseph Merrick Baptist College, JMBC Ndu. My High School Education was at the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology CCAST Bambili; one of the most prestigious destinations at the time where you had to pass an interview before gaining access into the establishment. After that I went to the university in Nigeria where I did my first degree at the Ahmadu Bello University where I obtained a Bachelors Degree with Honours in Geology. I came back home and was ready to work but at the time, our former President Ahmadu Ahidjo had this idea of sending young people to go out and study to feel the new professions that were coming up at the time and that’s how I found myself again in Nigeria in the University of Ibadan sent there to do Petroleum Engineering. I did a Post Graduate Diploma in Petroleum Engineering and after that I did a Masters Degree in Applied Geophysics and then I came home. My educational career did not end there because the British Council felt that I could become a total petroleum guy so they gave me a Scholarship which took me to the United Kingdom where I did a Masters Degree again in Petroleum Engineering.

One would be tempted to ask what you consider to be the peak moments in your career.

 What I find as the most important thing in my career as a civil servant was the fact that I was on the team of international scientists who spent two months working at Lake Nyos to de-gas the lake to make the place habitable again. That was not only going to be useful to Cameroon but also helped people to live in peace in Nigeria because if Lake Nyos had another problem like the one we had in 1986 or if the dam gave way, not only will there be heavy floods in Benue State in Nigeria, there were also going to be floods in Cameroon. Having been chosen to be on that team of experts from Germany, Japan, the United States of America, France, Holland and Cameroon for two months constituted the most important thing I did throughout my career. I served Cameroon and I served humanity.

What is that political undertone that must have been an aspect of your life as a civil servant?

I am a political animal and as such have taken part in all the political movements that have gone on in the past years. The CPDM Party being the one in which I have interest has always sent me home as a Charge des Missions (Head of Missions), and I always try to do my best. If you remember, we just did the reorganization of party’s basic organs and I would want to say I was selected as one of the Vice Presidents to re-organize the party in Noni and I ended up being the President because the President and the other Vice President didn’t come and so I did the work all alone and I think that Noni people are happy with the re-organization that took place. I also worked in collaboration with Charge de Mission literally translated as Head of Missions in the likes of  Dom Anthony and Lambert. I thank the party for thinking that even though I am retired I can still be useful. 

Culturally speaking, who is Shey Forgwei George? 

Well I know that you are talking and looking at my bare head (laughs…) but I will tell you that if I step out of this office and went to my car you will not recognise me anymore. I was given the title Shey by our late Fon of Mbin in Nkor Noni some 25 years ago and he called Shey Ntvu which means if you translate it literally I am supposed to be the treasurer of that palace. I love  it and when I get out of here and go towards home  I become the true traditional person. I make sure that I move with my hat and bag and attend the Mfuhs to let my children grow up and know that we have a culture. Some people feel that being a Shey, a Tantoh or a Nform is paganic but I don’t think so. It’s simply our culture and shows the way our people lived in those days. I am happy that I am one of those who have been chosen to represent our culture.

What exactly is Shey doing with his time now?

Right here at Kendelly Construction, I am Director of Industries. Kendelly Construction Company is a young bustling company which is very up-coming and we have a platform of companies and the owner has decided that I should head this platform of companies. We have quarries around the country in the South West and some in the Centre Region. We have a cement factory that is going to be coming up soon. We have a ceramic factory that will be coming up soon. We also have a mighty block factory that provides almost half the blocks that are used in Bamenda right now. We have an iron factory which is also going to be coming up soon. I think that the work I do here is quite full and I draw from my experience in the public service to see how I can help to coordinate the activities of all these companies that are under Kendelly Construction Company.

As a lecturer, I am a full time lecturer at the Cameroon Christian University even though of late I took a leave. I am also a part time lecturer at CATUC the Catholic University of Bamenda and at both places I teach Petroleum Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, Drilling and Production Engineering. 

What is your take on the practice of Petroleum Engineering and the teaching of it in our higher institutions of learning?

The sector is growing because the records that I saw when I worked for the Sub Department of Hydrocarbons in Yaounde the first barrel of oil was sold in this country in 1977 and at that time we had just Elf Serepca producing and Golf Oil exploring, we had Tepcam exploring. Time has passed and the companies have changed. We got to a stage where were producing more than two hundred barrels a day. Production eventually got down but we are still struggling. We have new Cameroonian Companies that have just come up like Euroil which is fully a Cameroonian Company doing fine. Euroil is the leader in gas reserves in Cameroon. Generally, Oil Fields Mature then they decline. It is true that we are now on the declining side and then coupled with the fact that oil prices have fallen of late, investment in research will slow down too. That’s the way it is in the petroleum sector in Cameroon right now. But we have moved forward since we are also in the gas sector. The Gas Project in Douala which actually supplies gas by pipeline to big companies in Douala. We also have Gas Plant in Kribi which turns gas into electricity and so I think the petroleum sector is moving forward. 

Our Higher Education Sector doesn’t seem to be oriented towards training Cameroonians in the field..

Yes, one would have expected that since we have been in the exploitation of petroleum since 1977, we should have had state universities offering courses in Petroleum Engineering. But I know that of late there is a school of mining that has come up in Ngoundere and I don’t know about the Petroleum Engineering part of it in that university. That’s why we thank the Private Sector for instituting first degree courses in Petroleum Engineering at the Catholic University of Bamenda CATUC and at the Cameroon Christian University. We also hear that there is Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Dschang. I also hear that they do things in Petroleum too maybe the downstream sector in the Douala University but I think with time things will move forward. The Government knows that they need to train our children in the upstream, midstream and downstream sector of the Petroleum Industry.

You certainly have a message first for the Noni person which is where you come from and for Cameroonians in general.

I will like to tell my brothers and sisters of Noni extraction that where ever they are and wherever they work, they should know that they have to prepare for their retirement. They should think about training their children so that they could replace them. This gives me an opportunity to talk about my children. I have a first daughter who is a Magistrate, a second daughter who is a pharmacist and a first son who is in Medical School. I have another son who is preparing to get into the Polytechnic. The last two of my six children are preparing to go to High School. I think that by giving them a good education you are passing on the baton so that tomorrow. It is not only you who will be remembered for having been a good professional. The children should takeover and let the story go on. I remember that as a young man we looked for young girls in Noni to marry and we couldn’t find because the girls were not going to school. Now we have many of them who have gone to school and that is very good. I believe that professionalism will grow as time goes on.

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