Where Problems Arise!

In-spite of improved efforts, the breakdown of machines, scarce materials coupled with growing cases often lead to insufficiency which patients repeatedly decry through strikes

Although the government of Cameroon has been working tooth and nail to lessen the suffering of people with renal problems, difficulties keep resurfacing and most at times almost dampening what would have been a great relief. Government in December 2007 created dialysis centres in each of the country’s provinces to facilitate access to treatment.
Besides the laudable creation of the centres, government has equally been unwavering in subsidising the cost of treatment so as to make it affordable to a cross-section of the needy population. Dialysis reportedly costs over FCFA 100,000 per session per patient and each patient does it twice or thrice a week. Thanks to government subsidy, each patient spends only FCFA 5,000 now per dialysis. This has greatly saved lives that would have perished were patients with kidney failure to each disburse FCFA 75,000 to access the treatment as before. 
Experts say the number of patients requiring dialysis treatment keeps increasing by the day owing to causes ranging from diabetes, use of ill-prescribed drugs to HIV-related kidney failure. Records show that the number of patients on dialysis moved from 390 in 2012 to over 920 in 2013. Today, patients with chronic cases number over 746 in the nine haemodialysis centres across the country. Medics say between 2009 and December 2016, over 4,950 patients were given treatment through the different haemodialysis centres. Startling revelations indicate that the State spends over FCFA 12 million per patient per year in the country through the different subsidies on treatment. With the State subvention, each patient spends barely FCFA, 150,000 to FCFA 200,000 for different clinical tests and medications.
However, the sometimes shortage of dialysis materials owing to the fact that they are imported usually push desperate patients to stage strikes in protest. This goes same with oxygenated water needed for dialysis as well as the number of machines needed to attend to the growing patients. The pressure on the materials from the growing number of patients often leads to scarcity, almost always attracting popular outcry from victims. There has also been complaints of increased breakdown in haemodialysis machines in centres across the country. Sharpening the skills of technicians on their maintenance and ensuring a speedy upkeep once breakdown hits the indispensable materials would be salutary. Worse still, the source of the materials - from imports, sometimes stifle efforts especially where delays are recorded. Anticipating their purchase and transport into the country well ahead of time and possibly importing larger quantities than the usual expressed needs could partly solve the problem.
 

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Ministre de la Santé publique

Qu’est-ce qui explique le récent mouvement d’humeur des malades sous dialyse à l’Hôpital général de Yaoundé ?

Je voudrais dire que notre pays traverse une perturbation sur divers composants de kits de dialyse. Ceci pas seulement dans cette formation sanitaire mais aussi dans d’autres centres du pays comme à l’hôpital général de Douala, les hôpitaux régionaux de Bamenda, Buea. Un kit de dialyse comprend 16 composants et il suffit qu’un seul soit en rupture pour que nous connaissions une perturbation. C’est ce que nous notons à l’Hôpital général de Yaoundé parce qu’il s’agit de malades atteints d’une insuffisance rénale chronique qui devraient normalement avoir au moins deux séances par semaine. Mais, suivant l’approche thérapeutique classique, c’est 9h par semaine qu’il faudrait réguler en trois séances de trois heures. Mais, compte tenu du parc limité que nous avons au Cameroun, et du nombre de malades, nous avons ramené à deux séances par semaine de quatre heures, ce qui fait environ 8h. A cause des perturbations sus-citées, ces malades depuis quelque temps reçoivent une séance par semaine. C’est ce qui explique leur le ras-le-bol.

Quelles sont les mesures prises par le gouvernement pour les rassurer ?

Nous avons une arrivée très prochaine de près de huit à dix tonnes de composants qui viendront par un avion-cargo qui est en train d’&ecir...