Public Health : Disturbing Cases Of Cure-All-Syndrome

It takes the eye of an expert to detect certain common malpractices which many on a daily basis may not realise. This is the situation with some health challenges people suffer from without being able to put their fingers on the origin. Some health care problems that are obvious because of the pain or inconveniences they create to those affected. Yet, others can only be diagnosed by specialists. Even worse, there are those that take long to manifest due to their slow but progressive evolution in the human system.     
On Friday 13 January, 2023, the public was made to discover frightening figures of the growing danger posed by charlatan health practitioners within the optician sector. An operation that began in Douala on 30 December, 2022 continued in Yaounde. Out of about 28 fake Optician Medical Centres that the National Order of Opticians set out to close down, they finally realised that over 80 of such health structures exist in the two towns alone. It begs the question how many of such risky establishments are be planted throughout the national territory. Ringing the alarm bell at this point may not be too late. After all, common knowledge informs that it is better late than never.     
Looking at the many health complications that people face on a regular basis, the proliferation of health training institutions across the country could be a saving grace. But undergoing training can never be enough guarantee if people fail to follow laid down procedure to effectively practice their profession. Speed brakes or stop gaps that professionals place on the door steps of those just graduating from school can never be taken for granted. Allowing their clinics to be sealed off before settling down to perform serious jobs might just be one of the cast-iron guarantees that those in whose care the public should place their health care challenges can become trust-worthy. When people operate without being known to their peers, it poses the problem of trust in that no checks and balances can be possible with such persons who choose to work in hiding.     
Over the years, Cameroonians have witnessed in total bewilderment their dear ones die without the required medical attention just because the patient has been in the wrong hands. Given that such worrisome instances occur in conventional medical outfits; it becomes even more tragic when people are tempted to entangle themselves with impostors who claim to solve the diseases that people present, whereas that is all fake. The wide spread nature of those selling eyeglasses on street corners in the country, especially in major towns, is already a call for concern. This goes same with the ever increasing number of roadside drug dealers both in towns and villages across the country. Years of struggle by public authorities to eradicate the phenomenon have only helped to expose the hydra-headed nature of the problem.     
Grievances against the illegal optician centres that fell under the axe of the law within the past two weeks of control operations in Yaounde and Douala have been telling enough. Practising the profession without authorisation, the absence of qualified personnel, non-registration with the National Order of Opticians, no civil responsibility and the non-respect of laid down regulations are a few of the complaints against the clandestine eye-care structures that were prohibited from functioning. It means therefore that those who have had to confide their eye problems to such persons actually took uncalculated risks. No one could make out such danger ahead of time without the intervention of those in the field like the National Order of Opticians. Hopefully their salutary move is a perennial solution to the profound harm the population has suffered from over the years. There is evidently no duplicate to life and once people decide to toy with the health of the population, it should be sufficiently embarrassing to every right-thinking person. Beside eye-care specialists, there has been the growing issue of doubtful health care facilities in most major towns in the country. It is time for a careful scrutiny to be organised to ensure total conformity within the sector.     
The results obtained by the National Order of Opticians could actually be just a tip of the iceberg within a domain that is crucial, but which has been overtaken by charlatans for a long ti...