Pregnant woman’s shock death puts Cameroon’s healthcare under spotlight

Joël H

 

Many contributors have sent us a particularly shocking video that has sparked an uproar in Cameroon. The footage was shot in a hospital in Douala on the morning of March 13. The pregnant woman and her family were turned away, because a doctor said she was dead. Her sister, who said she thought that she “still felt the babies moving”, decided to try to save the unborn twins by slicing open her sister’s belly with a blade, right in front of the hospital.

The babies, however, had already died.

We decided not to publish the graphic video, which has sparked a wave of anger across Cameroon. The day after the video was published, several hundred people gathered in front of the hospital to protest Cameroon’s failing healthcare system.

The family of the victim, Monique Koumate, told local press that Monique was still alive when they got to the emergency room. They claim that the real reason doctors refused to see her was because the family didn’t have enough money to pay the hospital fees. The family state that they begged the medical staff to take her, but in vain.

During a press conference held on Sunday, Public Health Minister Mama Fouda André defended the hospital by giving another version of events. She said that when the woman arrived at the hospital, she had already been dead for four hours.

"Never again a Monique Koumate in my country!!!"

On Sunday, about a hundred protesters, who believed the family’s version of events, gathered in front of Laquintinie hospital with signs reading “Never again a Monique Koumate in my country”. Our Observer Stéphanie, who lives in Douala, went to the protest.

"Poor people can't get access to hospital care"

This story really affected me, all the more so because, sadly, stories like this are common in Cameroon because of the high price you have to pay to be admitted into a hospital. You have to pay a deposit before you see a doctor or have an operation.

Two years ago, my sister almost died in the hospital in very similar circumstances. She was giving birth at a hospital, but there were complications and the only solution was to perform a Caesarian. However, a Caesarian costs almost 200,000 CFA [Editor’s note: equal to 30 euros]. She didn’t have enough money with her because she didn’t think she’d need a Caesarian, so the doctors didn’t want to perform the surgery. She had to wait for our family to get the money and bring it to the hospital before the doctors would start working. My sister could have died waiting.