P.M.I. Nkwen: Bamenda’s Newest Dump Site

The smell of rotten eggs, meat, cabbage and baby diapers as well as related household and human waste fills the air that circulates at the PMI Hospital neighborhood in Nkwen.

The hospital that is strategically located in the heart of Nkwen and in an environment that plays host to Bamenda’s popular leisure spots have left many wandering if things have completely gone out of hand.

Refuse dumped for months behind the hospital have not just become an eyesaw but have made life miserable for patients who get admitted in the said hospital. The female ward is the most affected as it is close to the dump site.

When it’s windy, patients in the hospital are chocked with the smell emanating from the dump just few meters away. Patient’s hospitalized in the wards can’t ventilate their rooms because of the stench from the dump.

Nestor Binue, waiting for the recovery of his sister at the hospital last Sunday said it now appears coming to the hospital can rather be the quickest way to pick up air bone diseases.

“I can’t believe this is a hospital at all. From inside, it’s clean but the stench that blows from outside is sickening. How come the hospital authorities, the mayor of Bamenda III council and the city council have allowed the locals to use the hospital environment as a dumpsite,” he intimated.

Role Of Hysacam

The company charged with the cleaning of the city of Bamenda, HYSACAM have been cleaning the city despite insecurities. Yet, nothing explains why the dump beside at PMI Nkwen has remained unattended. A trash can that was stationed in the area for refuse collection long got full and has never been emptied. This has forced locals to keep dumping dirt in the area while is decomposes.

Located just beside the main road, locals say there is no justification whatsoever for HYSACAM to allow such a situation to gradually get worsen.

” This is a hospital that is supposed to be a place of comfort. If you sit in an adjourning bar, it smells. I’m sure very soon, wearing a mask that covers the nose and month in the hospital, bars and shops in this area shall become a tradition just because of this dump site,” Theophil Atanga tells Mimi Mefo Info.

As the situation deteriorates, the Mayor of Bamenda III and the City Mayor of Bamenda both maintain a suspicious silence.