Bijoko Atangana, the secretary general of Cameroon’s Medical Council, called attention to the immense number of doctors working illegally in the country. The government explained that 600 illegal hospitals and health centers have recently been identified, those of which who are not abiding by government specifications are also being closed down. Atangana further described how easy it is to pinpoint doctors with fake licenses since they are not working under the National Medical Council.
Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented information on the use of counterfeit drugs used within illegal hospitals, drugs which are suspected of leading to over 200,000 deaths worldwide each year. Cases involving blood transfusion infections, counterfeit malaria, antibiotics and tuberculosis drugs have left patients either severely ill or dead, especially in Cameroon. The lack of medical staff due to the crackdown on hospitals is also proving to be an issue as patients wait hours with nobody to help them.
Cameroon’s Health Ministry is working hard to close down illegal hospitals and enforce laws to save lives. The WHO has also been actively working for decades to stop counterfeit drug networks. They have, since 2009, closed down several retail outlets, 100 of which were in China. They have also been involved in aiding countries create detection systems and develop high-tech drug packaging to avoid easy drug replication. Developing countries such as Cameroon are easy targets for illegal pharmaceuticals and clinics due to the cheap price of medications while the necessity of medical practitioners are in high demand.
– Maybelline Martez