There were protests in Cameroon’s business capital, Doula, after a woman called Monique Koumate who was pregnant with twins was left unattended since she could not afford to pay for a caesarean section birth. Though her niece had pleaded with the Laquintinie hospital authorities to assist the woman since they would pay later, the health facility would hear none of this and she ended up dying at the hospital gate.
Later on, a medic strolled out of the facility and declared the woman dead. However, her niece did not believe this since she could still feel the babies kicking inside her aunt’s womb. Even the mortuary attendants refused to take the body of the woman into their facility since the babies were still kicking.
Then this desperate niece did something unbelievable, something only the courageous would do. She bought gloves and a blade, slit her aunt’s belly open and removed the babies who were still breathing - in full glare of a shocked crowd! As usual, the hospital authorities distanced themselves by refusing to take responsibility, claiming Koumate was already dead when she arrived at the facility.
The government was not left behind in this blame game; they repeated the hospital claims while distancing themselves from the whole horrible incident.
So where did the Cameroonian authorities and Africa as whole fail this woman? To start with, there are many clinics operating illegally in many African nations, which are ill equipped with few staff, that lack necessary training to tackle maternal health. Most of the hospitals we have in Africa do not provide quality services and some few that boast such are so business-oriented to an extent that good treatment has only become a preserve of the rich and the working force who have medical cover.
Medical negligence
Cases of medical negligence are numerous across African countries and only few cases get prosecuted. What is the essence of seeking payment before treating a woman in labour or a critically ill patient?
According to the Cameroon Medical Council, a fresh graduate doctor earns $250 a month. And this is not just in Cameroon alone; many African countries have witnessed a brain drain of medics due to poor remuneration. In Tanzania, for instance, they earn about $620 per month. We have seen mass protests of doctors in Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana - just to mention but a few - in the recent past due to poor pay.
So if African governments cannot prioritise the health sector, which is so critical, why then blame the doctors when they leave for Europe in droves?
The World Health Organisation estimates that Cameroon has one doctor for every 40,000 patients in a country of 22 million people. This however, should not justify medical negligence. Our governments should start tackling the issue seriously to ensure rogue medics are brought to book.
Any professional would go where they are appreciated and rewarded for good work. So we need to rethink on how to improve the health sector. Perhaps we need to pass laws in our countries that bar senior government officials from going for treatment abroad to ensure that they improve the health sector. When they are treated at home, they would start appreciating the work done by our doctors and improve our facilities that are struggling to provide effective and adequate healthcare.
Surely, quality healthcare should not just be left to the private sector or individuals in countries that have functioning governments. I believe there are many cases like Monique Koumate’s which go unreported and it is such a shame that we are still burying our heads in the sand. It is time we start holding our governments accountable for poor health service to ensure that there is effective service delivery in our public healthcare facilities, which should be accessible to everyone. A woman should not die while giving birth in Africa or anywhere else in this era.
Twitter: @JanetOtieno
credit link: http://www.ntv.co.ug/blogs/janet-otieno-prosper/2016/mar/16/its-not-just-cameroon-africa-failed-monique-koumate#sthash.YeDBTRZn.dpuf
