Braving threat of COVID-19 to treat Cameroon people

YAOUNDE－In the early morning of a working day, a makeshift but comprehensive Chinese clinic in Bangante, a small town in Cameroon's western region, was already full of patients.

Among them was 70-year-old Rose Nya who had been suffering from cataracts for more than 10 years.

"I have headaches and an eye problem and that is causing me to have an uncontrollable running nose," says Nya, a mother of four, while waiting patiently to see one of the Chinese specialty doctors on a 21-member team, who had arrived in the town on Aug 12 for a two-day free consultation and treatment campaign.

Bangante is surrounded by rural communities with abundant wildlife and dispersed settlements, but without hospitals. Villagers are often troubled by such health problems as typhoid, malaria, cataracts, rheumatism, but most of them, like Martin Ngamga, 68, who trekked for more than 20 kilometers to benefit from the campaign, cannot afford medical services.

"I learned about the consultation on the radio and from WhatsApp groups. If Chinese medicine can help me better than the others I will be very happy because the medicine is free. Do you know that there are people who die because they do not have the means (to get treatment)?" Ngamga asked as he joined Nya in the queue.

As COVID-19 infections persist in the central African nation, stoking fear and anxiety in the public, Chinese medical doctors have continued to treat patients with various ailments, underlining the cordial health cooperation China and Cameroon enjoy, says Tian Yuan, head of the Chinese medical team in Cameroon, at a ceremony to launch the campaign.

"Our sole objective is to permit patients to benefit from high quality Chinese medical services and let them feel love from the other side of the world without stepping out of the country. We will do our best help citizens in need," Tian says while addressing Nya and the hundreds of other patients who had congregated at the premises of Bangante council to be consulted and treated.

Eric Niat, mayor of Bangante, is grateful to the Chinese doctors for braving COVID-19 to provide healthcare services to the local people.

"Thanks to the excellent Sino-Cameroon health cooperation, we decided to invite the Chinese team of experts to help our population. This event was organized because, in our country, we are so behind in terms of providing healthcare to our population, especially in rural communities like ours. So it was necessary to organize the event with the help of China," says the 47-year-old mayor.

After the launch ceremony, patients from nearby villages and Bangante lined up to see doctors from various departments, who were here as members of the 21st Chinese medical team dispatched to Cameroon.

Nya and Ngamga were among the first patients to be consulted.

For the first time in almost 12 years, Ngamga felt relieved when his sickness was detected through echography. Before this, he had visited doctors several times but the results were not satisfactory.

"I can already smile, but I will not laugh yet, because the doctor has told me that he has discovered what is disturbing me. He said, it is a renal cyst and has reassured me that I will be fine when it's operated upon," says Ngamga, a father of eight, smiling.

Nya was offered Chinese medication for her condition. "I am very happy. All this (consultation and treatment) free of charge? I thank the Chinese for coming to help. I have to travel to the hospital tomorrow, but now that I have my drugs, I can only say thank you."

More than 300 patients received diagnosis and treatments on Aug 12.

Mayor Niat says his people marveled at, and were impressed by, the kindness and efficiency of the Chinese doctors.

" (I) am really thankful to China for these people coming here. They are so great, so friendly and really taking care of our population. So it's something that we hope is going to be renewed in future," the mayor says.

For Wang Haijun, a 44-year-old acupuncturist, helping the people during the free healthcare campaign was fulfilling.

Cameroon is his first mission post in Africa. But before arriving in Cameroon, he had spent more than 13 years in Taiyuan, the capital of China's Shanxi province, teaching the Chinese traditional method of treatment.

"I hope to transfer some of my skills to some Cameroonians before leaving," Wang says.

The free clinic ran from Aug 12-13.

As part of the campaign, the medical team donated supplies to help in the fight against COVID-19, including surgical and face masks and several pieces of personal protective equipment, to the Bangante council.

China started to dispatch medical teams to Cameroon in 1975 and 711 medical professionals have worked in Cameroon since then.

Xinhua