CBC Health Service Communication Unit Visits Facilities in Northbound
The Website of the CBC Health Services is one of the main communication windows, which the CBC Health Services uses to reach out to the wider public including partners and funders. As such, the website contents are expected to be updated regularly to match with new developments and leaders in the system.
On this premise, a team of two from the CBC Health Services Communication Unit comprising the Wedsite Editor, Njoka Divine and the Editor-In-Chief, Bonkung Handerson embarked on the first lap of visit to CBC Health Services institutions to review existing contents and update them to reflect the recent and ongoing changes in the organization. The weeklong assignment took the team to the northbound stations from September 8-15, 2024 beginning from Tibati, Banyo, Allat, Sarkibaka, Nyamboya, and Mboungam in the Adamawa region; Ngounso, Koussam, Kouhouat and Bafoussam Baptist Hospital in the West region. On the sidelines of Website update, the team captured key highlights and ongoing activities of some of the facilities as follows;
Tibati Baptist Health Center
The chief of center, Ngum Robert, registered nurse/midwife says Tibati Baptist Health Center (TBHC) has prospects of growth, which is being hindered mostly by environmental factors. There is stiff competition from the numerous health facilities in this junction town given that Tibati is like the epicenter of Cameroon with a major road linking the northern and southern parts of the country. The second major challenge is the culture of the people who give more attention to the many legalized tradi-practitioners limiting them from seeking conventional medical care. Language barrier is another challenge given that a majority of the clients are speakers of Fulfude while most of the staff speak either English or French. According to the COC, this calls for an interpreter who is not always well appreciated by some the clients.
In spite of these environmental realities, the center is striving on a good footing. On August 15, 2024, the ultrasound unit was added to boost the services of the center. The center staff carry out outreach visits to churches, ‘njangi’ groups and schools etc to talk about the services provided. Plans are underway to decongest the services into a new structure that has been constructed. TBHC sees an average of 300 patients per month.
Baptist Hospital Banyo
Baptist Hospital Banyo (BHB) continues to be the leading CBC Health Services hospital in the Adamawa region. The hospital supervises four health centers namely; Tibati, Allat, Nyamboya and Sarkibaka and four primary health centers; Mbamti, Mbah, Koata and Mbenguedie.
The Supervisor of Nursing Services (SNS), Mr. Kibang Eric Nkwain has led the staff to carry out Holistic World View Analysis of Baptist Hospital Banyo to identify key areas of difficulty and how to go around them. One of such challenges of the hospital is water. As a result of the analysis, the hospital acquired new water pipes to replace the old ones beginning from the catchment point on the hill behind the hospital down to the hospital such that water can be given to the community as part of her corporate social responsibility. Baptist Hospital Banyo has over 80 staff.
Allat Baptist Hospital gains Government Recognition
Allat Baptist Health Center (ABHC) has been blessed with an additional solar energy supply, thanks to government donation. Fukah Judith, chief of center revealed that ABHC was the lone confessional health facility out of 31 in the entire country to receive this government largesse. Through the local health district, experts from Yaounde came and installed the equipment recently comprising 8 panels, 8 batteries and one solar fridge. The COC describes the government donation as a special favour from God.
Allat Baptist Health Center has 17 staff who receive clients from 26 surrounding communities, the furthest of them being 80km. The health center staff brave the bad roads to these communities to administer vaccination.
Sarkibaka Baptist Health Center
Like other health centers on the northbound axis, Sarkibaka Baptist Health Center sees an average of 8-10 patients per day. The chief of center, Nshom Edwin says the services offered include: outpatient, ANC, deliveries, IWC, family planning, minor surgeries among regular services such as laboratory and pharmacy. Patients to the center come from seven communities with some coming as far as 10km including Nigeria. Malaria is the commonest ailment in the area.
Sarkibaka is totally out of communication network causing the health center staff to regularly move to spotted areas before they can communicate out of the area. Other challenges are bad roads and language barrier for staff that do not understand French or the local languages. The center has 25 staff.
Nyamboya Baptist Health Center
The chief of center (COC), Emmaculate Ndami says her center has the available services to handle difficult cases from the errors of hawkers and other surrounding facilities. These hawkers pose the danger of roadside drugs to the community that is ignorant to the repercussions. The COC celebrates the continuous improvement in the quality of care to her clients.
Mboungam PHC on Good Footing
The newly created primary health center (PHC) is doing well and seeing an average 250 to 300 patients per month just like a full-fledged health center. The chief of center, Palice Mbunwi leads a staff of 11 spread in all the departments; OPD consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, maternity (delivery), finance and security. Mboungam primary health center is strategically located on the highway between Nyamboya and Magba with a promising prospect for growth.
Ngounso Baptist Health Center gets Pioneer Assistant Administrator
Mr. Chepejem Jean Sama, erstwhile Assistant Administrator of Bafoussam Baptist Hospital is the pioneer Assistant Administrator of Ngounso Baptist Hospital with additional responsibility to oversea the growth and transformation of the CBC Health Services Palm Plantations in Ngounso, Nyamboya and Sarkibaka in Lingam. Speaking to CBC Health Services Communication Unit, Mr. Jean Sama said he is poised to realize this transformation plan within record time.
Speaking from his newly created office which is still being set up, the Assistant Administrator said Ngounso Baptist Health Center is a young and promising health facility. He said patients’ attendance slowed down in two weeks due to the recent tribal clashes involving the Bamouns and the Tikaris. So far, he has visited the local authorities notably, the Divisional Officer and the traditional leader among others to introduce himself and notify his presence.
The Assistant Administrator lamented the acute financial squeeze in the entire system and appealed for the need of critical thinking on the part of everyone if we must come out of the huge debts we owe as a system.
About his vision for the farms, Mr. Jean Sama revealed that he has visited all the farms and planted palms in 14 hectares out of the 174 hectares of plantation land in Lingam. Meanwhile, 4 hectares of the farm will be ready for harvesting in December this year. A set of four machines has been acquired to enable production to begin still in December. He has as plans to plant all the 174 hectares by 2026 in Lingam, complete the planting of the farms in Sarkibaka and Ngounso, nurse 10,000 palms and produce at least 20,000 liters of palm oil next year.
Pioneer Assistant Administrator of Finance for Bafoussam Baptist Hospital
The appointment of Mr. Nfor Edward Tunda, erstwhile Internal Auditor at the Finance and Development Department (FDD) as Assistant Administrator in-charge of Finance in a CBC Health Services institution set a precedence as the first ever inter-departmental transfer in the CBC.
Quizzed, the Pioneer Assistant Administrator in-charge of Finance for Bafoussam Baptist Hospital (BaBH) said, he received appointment in total disbelief, which later turned into mixed feelings of sadness, joy, and uncertainties. “Finally, like father Abraham of old, I accepted the task, and here I am today,” Mr. Nfor remarked.
According to Mr. Nfor Edward, the office of the Assistant Administrator in-charge of Finance that went operational on July 15, 2024 was long overdue given the services of the atihospital. He said the office is very needful to coordinate and ensure the proper accountability of the financial resources of BaBH and the four health centers she supervises. He agrees that barely two months is office, there is much work to do following the accounting principles of Accuracy, Periodicity, Continuity and Consistency among others.
About the hospital’s outstanding debts, Mr. Nfor assured to clear them off within the shortest possible time. His plan is clear, “We shall optimize our revenue sources and at the same time minimize our spending avenues limiting them only to imperatives and as such the surplus that will be realized, will go to clear our debts and improve our inter-departmental balance situation”.
Mr. Nfor acknowledged that the differences are clear with the switch from FDD to a hospital setting. At FDD, he was concerned with internal audit but the hospital is about management. He now has two employers and the policies and internal regulations are not exactly the same. There is the challenge to transfer his personal files from FDD to CBC Health Services. Overall, the most challenge is to raise income to satisfy the hospital and health center demands. In spite of these, Mr. Nfor sees challenges as a good opportunity to think and do things differently.
