Health Sector in Cameroon should be restructured and experts paid decently

- Professor Philip Egbengu-Catholic University Medical School in Kumbo

Professor Philip Egbengu is Head of Department of Medicine and Biomedical Science at the Catholic University Medical School in Kumbo. He is the Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Ringland Medical Centre Foncha Street opposite Saint John Catholic Church in Bamenda. He attributes the irregularities in the Health Sector in Cameroon to the poor treatment of medical experts in terms of remuneration and to the domineering public sector that drains the economy. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante Lenjo in his Bamenda office. He begins with how he took those first steps in his lengthy educational itinerary. 

Professor Philip Egbengu in a tete a tete with Jaques Famme Ndongo; Cameroon's Minister of Higher Education.

“I am from Manyu Division in the South West Region of Cameroon. I was born in Ewelle Village where I went to Primary School from where I moved to Ndian Division and continued my studies with an Uncle where I completed my primary education at the Council School Bekora. Afterwards I was admitted into Saint Joseph’s College Sasse in Buea. From Secondary School, I directed my footsteps to the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology CCAST Bambili which was the most prestigious at the time in English Speaking Cameroon. I later proceeded to the University of Lagos where I did my Bachelors, Master and Doctorate Degrees. I did my MBBSS a degree in Medicines at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria.”

How did you get integrated into your profession after studies? 

I taught in about seven Universities in Nigeria and I was external examiner in 13 universities in Nigeria. I rose within the ranks of the academia to the rank of Professor back in Nigeria before I came to Cameroon in 1998 at the University of Buea where we were invited to start a new Medical School but the environment was not very conducive at the time. I went back to Nigeria and only came back in 2000 when I again started at the University of Buea. I then joined the Oil and Gas Industry where I was a Medical Supervisor. I have been to quite a lot of places in the world in the practice of my profession. 

What really inspired you to return home?

Two main things inspired me. The first thing was my children. From experience, when a child gets to secondary school in another country, he ends up as a citizen of that country. I therefore made sure that all of them finished secondary school in Cameroon before going out. Today they are out of the country as Cameroonians. The second reason is that I had reached an academic ladder where my peers in their various countries were being appointed one thing or the other. I then knew the time to go home had arrived. Furthermore,  Cameroon is where I come from and after acquiring all my potentials, I had to came back to contribute my little bit towards satisfying the health needs of my country. 

Apart from teaching we understand you run an outfit which embodies your desire to impact on the health of Cameroonians.

Yes when I came back home I went first into teaching then I opted out for very personal reasons. Then I went into the Oil and Gas Sector. I have never loved the Civil Service due to its lack of independence. I started the Royal Victoria Clinic which I ran from 2005 to 2010. From there I returned to the Oil and Gas Industry until 2013 when I joined the Catholic Mission. With the closure of the Medical school in Kumbo I found myself almost stranded. So while struggling to get our school reopened I decided to open the Ringland Medical Centre at Foncha Street in Bamenda with two friends of mine Dr Ngwashi Armstrong and Dr Thaddeus Kwankam who is in Italy. I am here as the Chief Executive Officer. It was created for the benefit of people who wanted sane medical services because there is so much corruption in the practice out there. Now I do the two things that I enjoy doing. 

What little extra thing do you think you have brought onto the landscape of medical practice in Cameroon?

The first thing is the congenial environment; clean and polite environment which constitutes the social aspect. There is the professional aspect which is making the patient be part of the healing process. The patient in this way understands what it is all about and follows up the progress of the treatment. We went ahead to put in some healthy sums of money in terms of material. We have state-of-the-art equipment here and apart from the Regional hospital in Bamenda, we are the only hospital with a CD Scan. We have a very sophisticated Digital X-Ray Unit among other things. We also went ahead to seek for the expertise because nobody has monopoly over knowledge. We invited Pediatricians, gynaecologists, surgeons among others. These professionals make money from it and we make money from it and the patient comes out satisfied. 

Does the Socio-Political Landscape in Cameroon affect the sector?

The Socio Political landscape in Cameroon greatly affects the sector. Doctors are poorly paid. Medical Doctors emerge from the best who make it at the GCE A Levels in Cameroon. They spend seven grueling years to become Doctors. They pay them 150.000 FCFA a month. Can you expect anything from that kind of a person? At the end of the day, he can’t get a car or live in a comfortable house and even has to jump on a commercial motorbike to go to work. Such a person is bound to cut corners in the practice of his profession. Everybody around the corner believes that in medicine you can make money so everybody is a Doctor around the quarter. Since medical utilities are expensive, people fall back to what’s in the quarters since it’s affordable. Some people only come to the hospital when they’ve reached the point of no return. There is no political will to change the situation in Cameroon. When you try to say the truth that Doctors are poorly paid, the next thing will be that an expert is removed from where he can really work and sent to one remote village where there is nothing with which he can practice. When you take a gynaecologist from a hospital with the facilities where he can practice and send to a small health center somewhere in a faraway farmstead how do you expect to tap from the resources that are in him?

What solution do you prescribe for this problem?

Get the professionals satisfied and they will sit in the hospitals from Morning to Evening. Restructure the curriculum in such a way that when a student leaves medical school he should do what is called in the English Speaking countries housemanship. You cannot remove a child from class and send him to go and practice medicine. In all the countries where health services are of top quality, the experts are well treated. In Nigeria at first medical experts were not well paid and this pushed them to leave and get fat jobs with huge salaries in the Middle East and elsewhere. It is only then that the Nigerian government realised that they were well trained and decided to restructure the sector and give the experts what they truly deserved. I wouldn’t leave Cameroon for anything if I had a good car a good house and a chunky salary. The private sector can provide the solutions to the problems of the health sector in Cameroon. The public sector mentality in Cameroon drains the economy. We need to realise that the future lies in the private sector. The Public Sector should be contracted for the private sector to grow. When it comes to expertise on the African Continent, Cameroon stands tall. We simply need to use what we have appropriately. We should change the way the resources are harnessed for this country to move forward.  

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