Chinese medical team provides free health care services in rural Cameroon

YAOUNDE, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese medical team in Cameroon on Saturday provided free medical services to the people of Ngat-Bane, a village in the Centre region where the capital, Yaounde is located.

Early in the morning, more than one hundred villagers gathered in the Health Center of Ngat-Bane to welcome 12 doctors from various departments of ultrasound, stomatology, acupuncture, etc. of the Chinese medical team based in Mbalmayo, a town located about 40 km on the outskirts of Yaounde.

Among them was 63-year-old Richard Mekoga who came from a neighboring village. Mekoga said he was suffering from back pain and eye and nerve problems.

"This is my first time participating in the (Chinese) health campaign. I was extremely satisfied with how we were received," Mekoga said, adding that he was certain the medicine provided by the Chinese medical team will save him.

Ngat-Bane, like many other Cameroonian villages, has abundant wildlife and dispersed thatched huts, but zero hospitals. Villagers are often troubled by such health problems as rheumatism, typhoid, and malaria, but most of them cannot afford medical services in Mbalmayo.

"It (Chinese free consultation and treatment) relieves us, we who don't have enough means and who can't even travel to Mbalmayo (for treatment)," said 70-year-old Joseph Mbede Onambele who had been suffering from inflammation in the limbs and sometimes travels to Mbalmayo to receive medical treatment from Chinese health workers who work there.

Dieudonne Zang Mba Obele, mayor of Mbalmayo estimated that 70 percent of those who consulted and were treated free of charge were women and children.

"I believe this is an example of cooperation (between Cameroon and China). They (Chinese health workers) are not only for the district hospital of Mbalmayo but for the poorest populations who cannot go to the hospital of Mbalmayo, sometimes for lack of means, lack of infrastructure," Obele said.

As part of the campaign, the Chinese medical team donated medical supplies.