Bamenda III D.O Pays Courtesy Call to Nkwen Baptist Hospital
Bassilekin Georges Magloire, in-coming Divisional Officer (D.O) for Bamenda III Sub Division has paid a visit to Nkwen Baptist Hospital. The visit on July 17, 2020 was within the framework of familiarizing himself for the first time with services located in his area of command.
During the visit, Mr. Kangong Joce, Administrator of Nkwen Baptist Hospital presented a plethora of challenges, which he called on the D.O to join the voice of the hospital to raise the cry of help to Government and other development stakeholders to support the young hospital.
Mr. Kangong said the incessant power cuts and unstable electricity supply from ENEO (The Energy of Cameroon) Cameroon S.A, keeps affecting the hospital’s medical equipment which is extremely costly. “With the current state of affairs, it has become more challenging when the hospital has to run on heavy-duty generators for several days; making us spend sums of money on fuel instead of drugs.” he bemoaned.
The Administrator equally highlighted insecurity, lookdowns, harassment, and sometimes assault of staff, limited infrastructure, and the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) as some of the major challenges the Nkwen Baptist Hospital is grappling with.
It should be recalled that Nkwen Baptist Hospital began way back on May 2, 1979 as a Dispensary. It has today grown into a 92-bed capacity full-fledged hospital with staff strength of 350 including seven General Practitioners and five specialist doctors.
Today, being a catchment hospital receiving patients from within and out of the Bamenda metropolis especially in the context of COVID-19, Mr. Kangong seized the opportunity to call for more Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff. “We are in dire need of more PPEs, detergents, test kits, and medical supplies to ensure more systemic testing and proper management/referral of patients,” he solicited.
The D.O left Nkwen Baptist Hospital with full knowledge of services offered after a guided tour to all service units.