My experience with health services in Cameroon

For as long as I can remember, Cameroon does not have or use universal health coverage (UHC). With no insurance policy, out-of-pocket payment (OPP) is what we have. UHC might not be present at the moment, however, over the years, it has been heavily promoted in Cameroon. Cameroon aims to meet the United Nations (UN) target of UHC for all by the year 2035 (Nde et al., 2019). There are private hospitals, clinics, government hospitals, and regional hospitals in Cameroon. Luckily, I lived in areas where private hospitals and public hospitals were close by. Even if my parents were not around when I fell ill, taking a taxi to the hospital or clinic was not a problem. So access was not an issue for me.

My parents were not poor nor rich. They were hard-working and middle-income class. They sacrificed for us, did their best to ensure that my siblings and I got the best quality of health care Cameroon could offer. Even at that, you just never know which of the healthcare workers will attend to you. So money or not, if I got a terrible nurse or doctor that day, that’s what I got. I have been to both private and government hospitals. My experience with the government hospital in Bamenda left a sour taste in my mouth. The nurses and doctor who attended to me on that faithful day were extremely rude, incompetent, and lacked empathy. They could care less about whether I was in pain or needed assistants. Meanwhile, at Providence Polyclinic, which is a private hospital, I got the best care one could ever dream of. From the doctors, nurses, and even lab technicians, everyone showed concern for my well-being. I felt relieved and relaxed to ask questions, notify the nurses whenever I was in pain.

Monetary wise, the charges at the public hospital were reasonable as opposed to the expensive private hospitals. Public hospitals might have all the medical equipment and specialists. However, their delivery of services sucks. OPP is what I grew up knowing and I thought there was no other option. That is, till I got the opportunity to study abroad and was enlightened by just how terrible our health care system is here in Cameroon. If one is not exposed to other parts of the world, you would not know if there are other options. But now that I know better, I shall continue to advocate for UHC in Cameroon.

References

Nde, C., Raymond, A., Saidu, Y., Cheng, N., Nzuobontane, D., Atemnkeng, J., & Mbacham, W. (2019). Reaching Universal Health Coverage by 2035: Is Cameroon on Track?. Universal Journal of Public Health, 7(3), 110-117. doi: 10.13189/ujph.2019.070304