Cameroon: Declaration On The Provocatory Response Of The Government To The Legitimate Strike Of Symec Doctors

The Cameroon Renaissance Movement is concerned by the Government management of the strike by the Syndicat des Médecins du Cameroun (SYMEC). SYMEC brought to the attention of the Government and the public problems which hinder not only the professional development of Cameroonian doctors but also those that limit their willingness to treat their patients adequately.

What the SYMEC is asking the Government is to improve their purchasing power, their working conditions, technical facilities and universal health coverage.

Everything that physicians claim, because of their vital role in society, is ultimately for the well-being of all, those healthy today may be sick tomorrow.

Instead of finding solutions to the legitimate claims of doctors, in its usual arrogance, the Government has roughly attempted to break the strike by parading people presented as doctors who, in addition to proclaiming that there are no problems in our hospitals, called on President Paul BIYA to stand as a candidate for the next presidential election. Faced with the determination of the SYMEC, it has just taken measures of punitive assignment against its officials. Having lost all reason, the Minister of Public Health has, from these punitive assignments which violate union rights, demonstrated that he is willing to sacrifice our health on the altar of the preservation of his position.

CRM supports SYMEC, condemns the decision to assign trade unionists punitively, asks the Prime Minister, the head of the government, to cancel these assignments, which give the regime the image of a resentful power.

CRM calls for the resignation of Mr. André MAMA FOUDA, Minister of Public Health, for vindictive acts and incompetence in the management of a situation likely to seriously damage the effective medical care of Cameroonians already experiencing poverty for most of them.

The Communication Department
16th May 2017