CBC Health Board Chairs on the Spotlight!
Prof. Judith Torimiro, chair of the CBC Health Board and Prof. Helen Kimbi, vice chair were voted into office on June 14, 2024 by the CBC General Council.
The renowned University dons created a window in their very tight schedules to accompany the Director of Health Services in his inaugural visit to CBC Health Services in Bamenda, Bafoussam, Mutengene, Douala and Yaounde from August 10-17, 2024. Their resilience and stamina from dawn to dusk throughout the visit following the Director into every nook and cranny in each of the facilities was unprecedented. At the end of the visit, the CBC Health Services Communication Unit accosted them in the following conversation beginning with a question to have them tell our readers who they are in their own words. Follow us….
Professor Judith Torimiro: Professor Judith is a professor of clinical sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in the University of Yaoundé 1 where she also serves as the Head of Department of Biochemistry and also the coordinator of the post graduate school unit for health and environmental sciences. She is Director of the Chantal Biya Foundation Reference Laboratories. Judith was blessed in marriage with three children: Samuel, Roland and Alex and she has had the opportunity to serve in different capacities in the Cameroon Baptist convention. She is currently a Sunday school teacher, an adviser in the women’s group of Praise Baptist church Yaoundé and she has served as vice chair of the Education Board of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, member of the Board of the Seminary in Ndu and she currently serves as vice chair of the Baptist Institute for Health Sciences Board based in Mbingo. Judith Torimiro has earned several awards and is a fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences. She has also played different roles in pregnancy in terms of her research domain trying to understand HIV and AIDS in pregnancy as well as hepatitis B in pregnancy and the effect on the baby.
Professor Kimbi: Thank you for that question. Professor Helen Kimbi is a professor of medical parasitology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Bamenda, at the same time doubles as the Vice Dean in charge of Admissions and Records in the same faculty. She is also the Postgraduate School Coordinator for the University of Bamenda. She has done a number of post doctorial fellowships at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and another at New York School of Medicine and recently she was a visiting professor at Drexel University, College of Medicine in Philadelphia in the USA. In terms of research, she works on malaria, that is, the epidemiology of malaria, its co-infections with related tropical diseases such as soil transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, and she has worked in different kinds of populations including HIV patients. Professor Kimbi is member of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, a member of the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences in Mbingo and a member of Board of Governors for the Baptist Seminary in Ndu. She is also a chorister and a member of the National Combined English Choir of the CBC, that is NACOMEC. Family wise, she is the widow of late professor Paul Mbufong and is the mother of four wonderful kids; Dr. Bemsibom, Ankinibom, Mboinibom and Yvisibom.
This is the first time that the Health Board chairs have direct contact with staff right in their places of work. What is your motivation in this paradigm shift?
Professor Torimiro: A professor can also be a student and the best way to lead or the best way to take off in a new position is to learn. To feel, to touch, to see, to listen to those who have been in the field. In spite of my experience at different levels in management in the Cameroon Baptist Convention, I still need a better understanding of the CBC Health Services and therefore I put myself in a position to interact with the staff of the different hospitals or health centers or centers in general of the Cameroon Baptist convention Health Services such that I can also guide in the respect of a strategic plan in the Cameroon Baptist convention Health Services. It would be difficult for me to make important decisions from what, for example, what the Director of Health Services will tell me or from reports that I will read or from information from other sources. Going to the field will make me a better student and a better leader. I hope and by the grace of God more wisdom to make decisions that would be useful for anyone who uses the Health Services of the Cameroon Baptist convention.
What is your impression on the Director of Health Services’ message throughout this visit and how can you evaluate how well this message is taken down by the staff?
Professor Torimiro: You know the team, the trio team that is, the Director of Health Services, the Chair of the Board and of the CBC Health Services and the Vice Chair are new to these positions and this trio is key in terms of the respect of the policies and procedures that have been put in place for a good functioning of the Health Services. I approved this tour because firstly, it’s innovative, secondly, it is timely, and again very very important for the Director of Health Services and for myself and the vice chair. I know on this trip the Director has not stopped to talk about certain principles that he would uphold with support from the staff. Firstly, about sustaining what already exists and straightening what exist to a higher quality. To do this, he expects full collaboration and motivation from the staffs It is not a task for one person, it’s a task of the trio, the staff, and the users of the health services.
In about seven sites that we visited, there has been a favorable and positive respond from the audience. I am pleased to say that even with some of the challenges that we know, it is possible for us to build on these challenges and move on. The Director of Health Services has great ideas. In line with policies and procedures that do exist and I believe that he will go on the right path because I have known him for a long time; we have served in the Institutional Review Board of the CBC Health Services where we evaluate research proposals and protocols and the projects. I have known him as a member of the Baptist Institute of Health Services and I have interacted with him in different spheres and I believe he has the capacity to carry the trio to a different level and of course the health services to another level.
What particular contribution do you have to bring to the CBC Health Services as Board Chair during your five-year mandate?
Professor Troimiro: I don’t want to make promises that will float or that will not be achieved at the end of five years of the mandate that has been given to me. But I will like to promote the respect of hierarchy, policies and procedures of the CBC Health Services. In so doing, I would like to also encourage the staff to work hard to reach the goal, because what is the goal of an employee? It is to see the organization achieve its goals through the employee’s efforts. In that respect, at the time of retirement the employee is satisfied to have contributed to the success of the institution and in this case sustainability for the next generation of employee who could be our children, and of course our grandchildren and of course generations after us. That is what I would like to see.
Now, let us turn to Professor Kimbi once more. Where have you visited so far and what have you seen?
Professor Kimbi: During these visits, we’ve been to Nkwen Baptist Hospital, Bafusam Baptist Hospital, we’ve been at the Health Services Complex in Mutengene, the Baptist School of Public Health in Mutengene, the Baptist Hospital Mtuengen and from there we moved on to the Mboppi Baptist Hospital Douala, Bonaberi Baptist Hospital Douala. We’ve also visited the Etougebe Baptist Hospital Yaounde, we also went to Ekoumdoum Baptist Hospital, the famous Ekoumdoum where we have a crisis of the baby that was stolen. We also visited Nkoabang Baptist Health Center and I want to say that I was pleased with what I saw on ground. Wherever we went we saw a state of empowered equipment, very good for diagnoses of diseases. We met specialists in different areas and I was very very pleased. We saw motivated workers of the CBC Health Board, workers that are ready to work under different conditions and I was very very pleased. I’m happy that I was part of this team to see what obtains on the ground.
What is your general appreciation of the CBC Health Services before, during and after this visit?
Professor Kimbi: That’s interesting. Before this visit, I’ve always known that CBC has wonderful health services but during the visit, what I found out was amazing. I did not know that CBC Health Services was so rich in what they are doing, the state of the art, equipment and everything. We saw a lot of wonderful things on ground; the good thing is that they have wonderful services and in areas where they don’t have the specialist, they share the services of specialist from other services and that makes CBC Health Services very special. You know, where there are no specialists, they program operations at particular times and then they get the specialist from other sister institutions to come and attend to the patients and I think that I must give them a pat on the back for that.
How often do you intend to repeat this feat of coming to visit the staff right at their places of work?
Professor Kimbi: That’s a difficult question to answer. I cannot talk about the frequency of the visits but as the opportunity avails itself and when there is a need, whenever there will be a need, I will like to visit the CBC Health Services facilities again.
As policy makers of the Board, talk to CBC Health Services workers in terms of advice or caution based on what you have observed during this historic visit?
Professor Kimbi: Talking to the CBC health workers, I would advise them to work hard and diligently, I will advise them to obey hierarchy because that is very very important so that they can have a smooth working relationship with hierarchy and their fellow workers. I will also tell them to embrace challenges. They should adopt a positive attitude towards the challenges in order to sail through. You know, it’s only a death person that does not have challenges, I will tell them to build on the challenges so that they can think out of the box and do better things. I will tell them that in whatever they are doing they should put the patient first because they are all there because of the patients. If you take away the patients then they will be no jobs for them; I will tell them to treat the patients well, to be welcoming because they are using their services as a gospel tool to be able to reach out to others, to be able to bring Christ to others. So, I will tell them to put a smile on every patient that comes to the services so that they will be happy, they will come back and they will tell the story to others.
Thank you very much.
