Medical doctors: Thoughts on meeting the huge shortage in Cameroon

The recent graduation of 176 medical doctors and other senior medical personnel here brought back the long-standing problem of meeting the huge and increasing shortage of trained medical staff in Cameroon.

Cameroon presently has a ratio of one doctor to 40,000 people which is less than twice the number recommended by the WHO.

Like many other major problems of development this one has not been approached without enthusiasm.

But last year in a surprising burst of enthusiasm the government announced the creation of more medical schools in Buea and Douala universities to add to the lone one in Yaounde. We recently learnt that Dschang university will start its own medical school in the new school year. Three cheers!

Yet given the enormity of the problem the expected increase will be tiny.

One short term solution that the WHO is presently recommending is for medical doctors to shift to senior nurses some of the tasks they do traditionally and keep only to those they alone should do. Doctors would then be able to do more of such tasks daily.
Yet another solution suggested elsewhere is to review medical training to keep it to the most pressing needs of Cameroon. That means reducing doctors’ training to say four years instead of seven!

This solution was the one adopted in colonial times. The likes of E.M.L Endeley were trained in that way. There was a whole generation of doctors like that in African countries under British colonial rule. If well-designed the products of such a course need in no way be half-baked.

Whichever solutions are adopted there is need for innovativeness, boldness and action. Cameroon is so far behind on its development that what is now happening is simply too complacent for anybody’s liking.