Buea University graduates 60 medics

Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo and Secretary of State Alim Hayatou chaired the ceremony last Friday.

The third batch of 60 Medical Doctors trained in the University of Buea (UB) has graduated into the job market. Alongside the medics were 38 Masters in Public Health and Hygiene, 27 Masters in Medical Laboratory Sciences, 14 Masters in Nursing Education, and 146 Bachelors in Nursing and Medical Laboratory Sciences students, who all passed out last July 10, 2015.

Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of Higher Education and Chancellor of Academic Orders, accompanied by Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Health in Charge of Epidemics, were on hand at UB to chair the graduation ceremony.

Speaking at the UB’s Amphitheatre 750, named after Dorothy Limunga Njeuma, Prof. Fame Ndongo reminded the medics to be ready to go wherever duty calls them in Cameroon. He urged them to be shining examples in the health profession.

Alim Hayatou, sitting in for the Minister of Public Health, saluted the outstanding efforts made by UB authorities in molding the new breed of medics. He assured UB of the Ministry’s full support in their health sciences education.

Presenting the graduating professionals, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Nalova Lyonga (PhD), thanked all the State dignitaries for the support offered to UB that enabled her to train the medics successfully.

She underscored that students of the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) in UB have never partaken in any strike action within the institution. “You must move with this same spirit of cordiality and serenity to your respective work places as your training as medical practitioners is a giant step to emerge Cameroon by 2035,” the VC said. Nalova Lyonga announced an imminent plan to erect a 500-seat amphitheatre at the FHS campus situated near Bomaka, Buea.

A Memorandum of Understanding, she said, has been entered into with the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) through the American Embassy in Cameroon to train epidemiologists in UB. Administering the various oaths to the graduating students, the various Medical Councils warned them not to make money-making their priority instead of saving life.

The need to keep professional secrets even after the death of a patient was strongly restated to the medics. Dr. Sih Colette stood tall among the 60 Medical Doctors with a Grade Point Average of 3.49 on 4. Minister Jacque Fame Ndongo and Alim Hayatou later paid a courtesy visit to the family of the late Paramount Ruler of the Buea, Chief Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley, who passed away last July 7, 2015, at the age of 92.