Japanese Ambassador inaugurates Tingoh Health Centre

The Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E Tsuomu Arai, recently inaugurated the Tingoh Health Centre in Bafut Subdivision, Northwest Region.

The project which has gulped circa FCFA 45 million started in 2011, financed by the Government of Japan.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Tsutomu Arai said the social impact of the project will directly benefit more than 13,000 people, who do not have access to quality healthcare service due to lack of appropriate equipment and befitting infrastructure.

“This project will enable the beneficiaries to have greater access to standard health facility and improved services in their community, which will reduce the mortality rate.”

According to him, the Japan Embassy in Cameroon has already funded over 104 micro projects within her grant assistance for Human Security Projects Scheme. “Our goal is to contribute to the laudable efforts that the Government of Cameroon and the civil society are deploying to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” Tsutomu averred.

He appreciated the efforts of the members of Mount Zion Foundation, the medical team and the entire Bafut Health District, in the effective and efficient implementation of the project.

The Ambassador appealed to the various stakeholders to continue to work as a team for the sustainability of the project.

The Executive Director of Mount Zion Foundation Northwest, Mariana Tanda, said before the project was conceived, Tingoh was witnessing a cholera epidemic, which led to the hospitalisation of more than 65 patients out of which, six deaths were recorded.

She expressed gratitude to the Japanese Government for the health facility and said it will serve the patients the stress of travelling over long distances for medical attention.

“The structure is befitting, well equipped and with health personnel ready to serve the population.”

Tanda said even the physically challenged persons can access the Tingoh health facility with ease.

The Mayor of Bafut, Abel Ngwasoh Langsi, said the people of Tingoh recorded the greatest number of casualties during the cholera outbreak.

“The lack of infrastructure and equipment made matters worse. What else could have been more important and useful to the population of this area than this infrastructure and equipment?

That is why the population of Tingoh and that of the entire municipality will always remember what the Japanese Government has done to them, not only in the domain of health, but also in education with the construction and equipping of schools in GS Bujong and Agyati.”

The Divisional Officer of Bafut, Jude Ewane, called on the population to guard and preserve the building for posterity. He told the Japanese Ambassador that the gift of a health centre is the best “because I do not want to recall what happened here three years ago during the cholera outbreak.”