By Doh Bertrand Nua
A nurse with Doctors Without Borders Doctors (DWB), an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation operating in the restive Anglophone regions in Cameroon has been admitted in a hospital following wounds she sustained from shots fired at their ambulance by gunmen suspected to be separatist fighters.
DWB ambulance attacked by suspected separatist
According to a release issued by the communication department of the NGO, the incident occurred early Thursday 4 February 2021 along the dreaded Kumba-Buea highway.
“In the early hours of 4 February, a Doctors Without Borders ambulance was fired on by armed men while responding to a call in Muyuka, South-West Cameroon.
The ambulance was hit and the accompanying nurse was injured,” partly read the release.
“Doctors Without Borders condemns this attack on our colleague and a clearly marked ambulance. Healthcare facilities, including ambulances, are not targets,” the release added.
The NGO revealed that the attacked injured nurse who was in a critical condition was rushed to the hospital by a second ambulance that was dispatched following the attack. They added that the injured colleague was rushed to the hospital where she was positively responding to treatment.
This comes months after a health worker who was supported by DWB in the South West was killed by separatists. The organisation in a release on their website said they were notified by separatist of the act in an official statement.
Attack on humanitarian workers across the two regions by gunmen is not new. Many aid workers have been attacked and some killed while soldiers have delayed aid delivery in many localities due to suspicion on the activities of some of the NGOs.
DWB has been responding to life-serving situation in Cameroon for more than 30 years, and in the South-West and North-West regions since 2018. The NGO has reiterated her neutral and impartial principle in medical humanitarian assistance in emergency ambulance referrals, secondary level care, and a decentralised model of community care.
It provides medical care to those most in need, regardless of their religious, political and cultural background. It has urged warring parties to ensure the safety of healthcare workers, hospitals, ambulances and patients.
No comments:
Post a Comment