The Syndicate of Cameroon Medical Doctors, SCMD, has announced that health practitioners will embark on a nationwide strike from April 17. They are requesting better working conditions.

According to leaders of the Syndicate, government preferred to practice the politics of diversion, instead of facing the demands of doctors put forward since 2016. The strike announcement also indicated that the doctors will continue their strike until government grants the said demands.

Going by the original schedule of the strike, doctors are expected to down tools from April 17 to 19 April, then from May 15 to 17, and later from 12 to 14 June. As of July 17, 2017, if concrete answers are not given to their problems, the doctors of Cameroon will enter an unlimited strike.

However, during the months of April, May and June, doctors will still provide the minimum service. In particular, they will be responsible for medical, surgical, obstetric and pediatric emergencies, in-patient follow-up, on-call and on-call services. On the other hand, appointments and new consultations will be cancelled during the strike, as well as surgery (except caesarean sections), radiological procedures and laboratory tests.

In order to put an end to the call to strike, the Syndicate of Cameroon Medical Doctors requested “the introduction of a universal basic health insurance to improve the provision of care and allow equal access to all Cameroonians from all walks of life; salary increase for doctors in the public sector and the direct payment of state subsidies to physicians in the private sector in the form of monthly premiums; pure and simple suspension of assignments of doctors without pay and the setting up of an accelerated procedure for the integration of doctors . The Syndicate also want the retirement age for medical doctors increased from 55 to 65 years.