The first human cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19, subsequently named SARS-CoV-2 was first reported by officials in Wuhan City, China, in December 2019.
When Cameroon received its first case in March 2019, there was a lot of panic among the population and a rise in misinformation. The barrier measures were strictly respected then than as at now.
The people who are at the forefront to fight COVID-19 are health personnel and the auxiliary staff who are open to infections. According to Dr. Nsame Denis, the Director of the Regional Hospital Bamenda during the traditional Wednesday Coordination meeting he enjoined all healthcare providers to be more vigilant for the Corona virus is still much around. He indicated that all barrier measures must be respected to minimize the infection rate. According to Dr. Nsame all health personnel have carried out their COVID-19 testing even right down to student nurses and doctors on internship to make sure that their status are known before they are sent to the wards where they will serve.
Mr. Teteh Kingsley is Senior nurse and internal medicine coordinator at the Regional Hospital Bamenda incharge of the solidarity ward which harbours the isolation rooms for COVID-19. Quizzed about the safety measures him and his team take he says " the first thing we do when we get here is get into our scrubs while keeping aside all other clothing we came with, compulsory wearing of facemask, that is to say all our Personal Protective Equipment PPEs are at work. We equally have a nursing working space which is for the nurses and we can view a patient in the isolation room from this station because it is demarcated by glass so we can view through. Once a nurse or Doctor walks into that room from the nursing station, they don't come back through that same door they pass through another exit door, get decontaminated before they move in. During his or her stay with the patient, they have no writing material. There is someone outside who takes down whatever history is gotten from the patient. At the end of the day we have to remove whatever we used at the center and get into out home attires before going home so as not to infect others when we leave".
The customer service at the Regional Hospital is headed by Mrs Morikang Caroline who has as duty to walk round the wards and make sure that customers are well catered for. She holds that in doing so she too can be exposed to infections because she goes in close contacts with patients. To her she has her facemask on before even getting to her job site and while on sit, she puts on her white rub, when she finishes from her ward rounds, she comes back to her office, takes off her rub and sanitizes her hands.
Talking to Mr. Nforgwei Jones chief of ambulance driver at the Hospital, he says that he works in a unit where they have to transport people at any given time so he makes sure that he has his gloves, mask, sanitizer and disposable gowns in the car so that he protects himself. He equally noted that at some point there are emergencies that will warrant prompt action and there will be no time to wear a glove in such an instance Mr. Jones says he will carry out the safety operations for the patient and as soon as he gets back, he washes his hands and sanitizes them.
All these measures cited above are part of the many measures including social distancing which since the outbreak of COVID-19 have been echoed by governments to respect. On January 23, Cameroon's health Minister Dr. Manaouda Malachie tweeted
"We have just recorded 07 deaths in one week and witnessed a rise in contaminations, especially in the Littoral, Centre and North Regions, representing 1607 new cases in just one week”. It is therefore a clarion call for each and every family to respect strictly all measures put in place to protect themselves and loved ones.
By Amambo Carrey-Pride
