Dr Denis Nsame Nforniwe

We now Do COVID-19 Tests in Bamenda - Director of Bamenda Regional Hospital
 

Doctor Denis Nsame Nforniwe is the Director of the Bamenda Regional Hospital. This Medical Doctor with 20 years of experience also served as Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital before being transferred to Bamenda where he replaced Dr Kingue Thompson who was also transferred from Bamenda to Limbe as Director of the Limbe Regional Hospital. In this interview which is dominantly focused on efforts to combat the deadly COVID-19 Pandemic, the Medical Doctor states that COVID 19 tests are now done in Bamenda. Dr Denis Nsame begins with a vivid description of the Bamenda Regional Hospital.

"The Bamenda Regional Hospital is really a mighty hospital having 400 beds and Five Hundred Staff. Out of this number, there are 42 Doctors and 200 Nurses, 36 Laboratory Technicians and the rest are Juniour Sanitation Workers and Paramedical Staff with about 30 structures. In a General Hospital like this, we have all the services with some Specialized Services like the Imaging Center, the Dialysis Center and the Daycare Center, where we have about 6000 patients who come for HIV Treatment and for the taking of their daily drugs."

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What additional structures have come in as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

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With the coming of COVID-19, at least we've had another additional Specialized Service and we have termed it the "Solidarity Ward". This ward is not really inside the Hospital but is found at the main entrance to the hospital at the Hospital Roundabout. It is in a fenced building having three rooms with six beds and we've had a tent outside with ten beds so it has a capacity of 16 beds. Since the advent of COVID-19, we registered the first case on the 20th of April. Today the second of May we have 11 confirmed cases. It will be good to inform the public that almost all these cases came through importation from Douala. The first case was someone who was not satisfied with his treatment in Douala and decided to drive himself to the Northwest Region where he presented himself for testing. After that we had another case from Yaounde and since then we are in phase II because we are having Community Transmission. When you have a confirmed case you start having contacts since there is movement from one place to the other.  So far we have tested close to 60 people and it is still going on as we continue to test the contacts and suspected cases. Unfortunately, among the first 11 confirmed cases, we lost one. This person came and samples were collected and he did not pass up to 48 hours here. He however gave up the Ghost before results could come out. 

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How are the corpses of COVID-19 victims handled?

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As we know, managing of corpses as concerns this highly infectious diseases means that the corpses are buried immediately. The burial of this case was done by the Medical Staff. We also need to disinfect the compound and supervise the burial. Burial should be done by the City Council but this one was an exceptional case since the compound was inside the town. The grave was dug and we came in and did the burial immediately. The other ten cases are responding to treatment at the Solidarity Ward. 

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Out of the Hospital Premises, what other facilities do you have?

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We also have some External Isolation Centers. This includes Azam Hotel with 72 rooms and if this becomes insufficient, the Governor will request for space elsewhere maybe at the Ayaba Hotel, Low Cost Houses, the Military Hospital and the Police Hospital where they are also trying to make sure that other logistics are put in place. 

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What measures have been put in place to handle suspected and confirmed cases?

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We have a team of 20 people made up of Doctors, Nurses and Laboratory Technicians who are manning their redeployment to Isolation Centers and see into the day-to-day running of these centers. For now the treatment of COVID-19 is free as prescribed by the Government. We should however know that we have some cases of co-mobilities. If you have Coronavirus and you have hypertension, it doesn't mean that you will not continue to have your treatment for Hypertension.You will have to continue buying your drugs. If you are COVID-19 positive and diabetic at the same time, you will have to continue taking your insulin. If we discover some other things that are not linked to the Protocol of Management of COVID-19, then accordingly, the patient will take care of treatment for the other things while we continue to manage him. But we know that everything as concerns the Personal Protective Equipment, all the Management and Hospitalisation is free and then all the drugs as concerns the COVID-19 as the protocol is spelled out by the Ministry of Health are free. Its case by case. Some people warrant admission or hospitalization. All of this is not paid for.

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Is there a Regional structure in place that has been created to handle the Pandemic?

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We have a Regional Committee headed by the Governor of the Northwest Region and we have an Incident Management System headed by the Regional Delegate of Public Health where we have all the various sections: Communication, Coordination, Case Management and Diagnosis.

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We understand Testing still poses lots of problems since specimens have to be taken to Yaounde..

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Another good message to share with the public is that we now do the testing in Bamenda. We have a Reference Laboratory. Specialist came from "Centre Pasteur" in Yaounde and installed the platform for testing so we no longer carry specimens to Yaounde. It was very tedious from the beginning and Bamenda is already receiving speciments from Bafoussam. Bafoussam is getting more and more overloaded with contacts to test. 

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What measures are you putting in place to keep the Medical Staff safe?

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Another message is to the Health Personnel. We are at the Frontline of this fight. The message we are giving out is that we don't want visitors and that people should stay at home. People should be well masked as they move out. They should practice the Hand Washing Habit and the use of Hand Sanitizers. People should only move when it is absolutely necessary. 

Even in the Hospital, we insist on one patient one carer. We don't need extra carers. Sometimes you see one patient having 5 to 7 carers. We don't need that. We are given the mandate to controle Social Distancing even within the Hospital. It is really a challenge and we really wish that the population should respect it. They can call their loved ones who are admitted rather than just stroll into the hospital for visits. This will make our hospitals crowded and increase the risk of transmission which can happen even within the hospital.

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There is the Tendency for the population to panic anytime a flu-like symptom is observed..
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We will continue to treat other diseases. These may have flu-like symptoms but not necessarily COVID-19. You can still have Pneumonia which is not COVID-19. So if the population is hiding and not coming out to check themselves then this is bad and we will have many deaths from other diseases that is not COVID-19. We want the public to know that Coronavirus exists, that it kills and that it is a very contagious disease. 

Cameroon is just starting. You heard of 2000 people dying within 24 hours in the USA. With the limited resources that we have, lets make use of the preventive measures. As for the masks, the medical ones are not really available in enough quantity for the population but the Government has been encouraging local production. We are calling on producers to do so in the right way. Atleast three layers with the cotton and the latex in the middle. Accredited Centres for the production are not yet established but we call on those producing it to follow these rules. It is better that each person should at least have protection. We are happy that our Northwest Special fund has been producing Sanitizers and masks.

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Any special message to the public?
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Coronavirus is real and there is already Community Transmission. If you have Flulike Symptoms, you must not come to the Hospital. Call the Toll Free number 1510 or the other numbers. We have 233361503 or 233361506 or 233361507 or 677564650 or 677032723. These are numbers of the Call Center at the Regional Delegation of Public Health in Bamenda. You shouldn't be running to the health facilities but should rather call and you will be given the appropriate information on what to do. If necessary we may even come and investigate you in your house.  

At the level of the hospital we have also locked the main gate and we concentrate firstly on pre-screening at the level of the gate. If you have fever, cough or difficulty in breathing, we have a pathway that you have to follow. If you have upper respiratory tract infection then you will be screened to make a difference between the one which is bacteria and that which is suspicious for COVID-19 and then we manage accordingly so that staff and doctors at the hospital are protected.

Interviewed in Bamenda by Francis Ekongang Nzante 


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