Kidney patients Tuesday 1 June 2021 took to the streets to protest lack of haemodialysis machines and poor treatment they undergo at the Yaoundé General Hospital. The patients mounted barricades in front of the hospital, blocking traffic flow for several hours.
The protesters carried placards with tear-provoking messages demanding solutions to promises made to them six months ago by Public Health minister, Dr. Manaouda Malachie.
“…we have one and same problem which is lack of machines and water. The minister visited this hospital in January 2021 following numerous complaints from us. He promised to provide solutions to our worries and we are six months now and nothing has been done,” said Boyomo Ombang Valentine, the leader of the protest action.
“We are over 550 patients and there are only 10 machines and a dialysis session takes four hours per person. We are only able to successfully go through the process because there is no water in the hospital,” Boyomo who has been a kidney patient for the past 14 years added.
He explained that circulation was blocked to better get the attention of the President of the Republic to their plight and the entire country following the poor treatment that they constantly receive in the hands of hospital authorities after going for closed to three months without a proper dialysis session.
Addressing the protesters, an official of the ministry of Public Health who represented the Minister pleaded with the patients to give them two weeks to respond to some of the worries while others will be answered later.
An undertaking to this effect was signed between the ministry and the patients. As a temporal solution, the officials proposed that the hospital will provide buses to help transport the patients to Ebolowa in the South region in order for them to go through the process.
Protest actions from kidney patients are not new in Yaounde and other parts of the country.
Those getting treatment at the University Teaching Hospital have on several occasions mounted road blocks. This is a similar move that was taken by those in Bamenda and Maroua which led to the repair of some of their machines.
By Doh Bertrand Nua
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