Cameroon’s lone radiotherapy unit in “danger”

Cancer patients at the Douala general hospital are on strike since this morning, decrying poor treatment.

The radiotherapy unit at the Douala General Hospital in the Littoral Region of Cameroon is on the verge of shutting down.

The lone unit in Cameroon and the Central Africa sub-region handling cancer patients is experiencing enormous problems with medical materials.

According to Hon. Joshua Osih, member of parliament for Wouri Centre, the government needs to act and quickly too to prevent a rather pathetic health situation in Cameroon.

“We learned that the radiotherapy unit will stop functioning in the weeks ahead. It needs urgent attention. We will hold the government for an urgent measure to be taken so that people don’t die in hospitals but instead be cured once they get there,” Hon. Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front SDF stated while visiting the Laquitinie Hospital alongside other lawmakers.

As concerns the lapses noticed by the parliamentary delegation at Laquitinie Hospital, the four lawmakers after visiting several structures say the technical platform in the hospital remains regrettable despite huge sums disbursed by the government to improve the situation.

“Laquitinie Hospital needs more than twenty incubators for the handling of premature babies but unfortunately, they are just ten incubators in the hospital,” Hon. Doh Collins told the press.

Parliamentarians visiting first and second-category hospitals in Douala frown at the epileptic provision of electricity at Douala Laquitini hospital despite being one of the biggest in Cameroon. They, therefore, recommend the need for a self-reliance energy source.

Hon. Osih stated that “our visit is to make sure that financial package allocated to hospitals are used to benefit the population. We will present a comprehensive report of what we have observed in the course of the March parliamentary session. “

As the delegation ended the visit in the littoral region, other parliamentary delegations are in other regions in a similar exercise.

As the government continues to warn against the dangers of the second phase of COVID 19, lawmakers call for an efficient medical updates in hospitals.


Mbatho Ntan.