Limbe Provincial Hospital: A Decaying Jewel

By Innocent Timbong

The Limbe New Town Cemetery has for years reposed the souls of departed indigenes in eternal comfort overlooking the Limbe Ambas bay. From the lowly to the nobility, the New Town ghost house continues to provide repose for departed loved ones.

Entrance to Limbe Provincial Hospital

The attraction of the cemetery includes; marbles covered in weeds. Unfortunately the contents of all the marbles are definitely unpleasant to the beholder's eyes.

The Limbe Provincial Hospital (LPH) is not a graveyard but an interlude to the graveyard or a salvation pill, granting a new lease of life to the eluding. However, this institution, a jewel at creation and during a greater part of its existence, now shares wavy similarities with the Limbe New Town Cemetery.

You are welcomed to the main block by the art car park and immediately behind, a marble staircase leading to the administrative offices. The beauty is eclipsed as you wander into the patient's citadel (wards) the raison d'etre of the hospital.

The general layout of the salvation house is a beauty: well kempt lawns, beautiful radiant hedges well kept jewel trimmed. The bio-diversity is some stuff to write home about. The atmosphere of beauty conceal a grievous injury, perpetuated at the expense of suffering citizens who, daily, seek refuge in this state institution.

Beneath the outward beauty, grandeur and flamboyance, the seething decay in health care standards within the wards is appalling; filth and outlandish decay.

Standards are outlandishly alarming in some departments albeit the good intentions of the creators of this noble institution and continue to constitute hazards to patients instead of solace.

Ward B, which incidentally tops the charts with external excursions, is also an eyesore, in dire need of hospitalisation and cure. With a capacity of about 30 beds, not to mention nurses and patient's attendants, there is only one toilet and bathroom functional.

The ward boasts of the highest number of terminal cases, most often glued to drip sets; and interestingly there is only one tripod in the ward. Rusty nails have since replaced tripods. The inconvenience to patients is illustrated by petty squabbles to acquire the lone tripod when it is free.

The side cupboards are derelict and cockroach-ridden; not forgetting other pests, which are inimical to human life, worst of all, the sick. The ward is partially surrounded by a filthily stinking meat, mosquitoes and flies which routinely share in the patients' blood and meals: Patients overwhelmingly suffer from malaria, diarrhoea and worse!

The toilet section of the ward opens out to the filthy hospital garbage dump, directly in front of the mortuary disfigured by an ill-conceived project in the name of philanthropy. The unkempt "voirie" and uncompleted mortuary structures nurse thousands of rats that visit patients in the wards.

Another cause of concern is the plight of workers. Their lives are not protected in view of inadequate protective year and disinfectants, particularly strange in view of the like in hospital places and costs, i.e. ward admission costs have risen from FCFA 6000 to FCFA 12000. Without money, you are dead in the L.P.H. there is nothing like emergency when you have no money.

From syringes, gloves, spirits, disinfectants to cotton and much more, nothing goes for free. Many patients exhaust their meagre resources on pre-admission formalities and find themselves in bed, incapable of buying drugs. Painful to imagine, in a government institution. Many have died because of no CFA.

Nurses, though limited, are on stand-by round the clock, and many have become scapegoats to patient's insults in view of high costs. The nurses themselves are not on a bed of roses, particularly the volunteers who still have to be integrated into the institution.

The volunteer nurses work overtime, most often for unfulfilled promises of integration after a period of free services. Their plight is even made worst by administrators who share incentive money from the Ministry, excluding these group and hand down crumbs to integrated staff.

The nurses toil on, hoping for the bright day when they will be placed on payroll. Unfortunately, the authorities continue to exploit the situation, but the nurses, though hard pressed, perform there best.

Albeit these gory situations, LPH has its positive side. The multipurpose laboratory continues to service many despite the exorbitant costs. The institution boasts of a pool of doctors, the young, and still very committed.

The visiting doctors and experts from other institutions are a source of confidence but for the costs of drugs and their availability to many patients, some who die because of lack of money for drugs.

Comments

[rexon]

This is la republique and we cannot deny it. When we are suffering like these, they and their children are going for medical treatment in the finest hospitals in swiss, germany, france, UK, US, etc. They are in pools,hotel suits, best Universities and schools in europe, not working but enjoying our sweat. At thesame time, they are intimidating and forcing us to stay quiet. They are nursing future criminals to take over their reign of terror. These criminals involves members of their families and those singing the CPDM song. We should fight and destroy all these evil perpetrated by bandits masquerading as managers managing la republique du cameroun. the biggest injustice in the world is in la republique du cameroun.

[buy generic viagra]

Chief nurse of Limbe provincial hospital? urgently needed

[DANGO TUMMA]

when are citizens of this town waiting to change the name back to victoria?

[tabi oben]

I find this painful to read. However if this is true then what is the judicial branch of government doing about it ? It is their job to police the the country and make sure such injustices do not prevail. The nurses should not be working on false promises. I will begin by advocating that no body goes to this hospital for care and Call your member of paliament and voice your concerns.

[njimaforboy]

Cameroon has no branches of government. Paul Biya is the Judiciary,Executive and Legislative branch of government. Asolute power rest with this self made President/Monarch, Mr. Paul Biya AKA the butcher of etoudi for the many lifes he has killed or destroyed in the past 28 years.

[njimaforboy]

The butcher knows nothing about death rate, birth rate, infant mortality rate and all the other leading indicators that a caring and elected leader knows about his people.

All the butcher cares about is when his next viagra dose is due, and which other European city he will visit with chantal.

This buffoon is so brain dead that he does not know Viagra is not needed for men with penile implant.

This Hospital is not the only place rotting in Cameroon, the entire La Republic is in a decaying state, especiallly Southern Cameroon, due to failed policies of a rogue regime and a very poor leader.