Douala Laquintinie Hospital innovates to better provide healthcare.

This was the objective of the third edition of the Open Door Day activities hosted at the esplanade of the most popular reference hospital in Douala. 

It was held under the theme: "The Laquintinie Hospital Douala, at the heart of modernism, humanism and competitiveness" and amplified by its slogan "the Laquintinie Hospital Douala, always at your service, and even more closer to you". 

The concept of the Open Door Days was developed by management of the hospital to make the general public and partner institutions discover not just structural transformation of the more than 90-year-old facility but also for the public to immerse themselves in the various specialised health services that exist within the hospital. 

Commenting on the importance of such an activity to the performance of such public institutions, the Director of the Laquintinie Hospital, Prof Emmanuel Noël Essomba, said most of the specialties, 45 in total, are unfortunately unknown to the public. 

He used the opportunity to redress the negative image the hospital had gained over time, but reassured that much work has been done to phase out the time when the Laquintinie hospital was reputed for all manner of wrongs.

Amongst the 45 specialties offered by the hospital, one can count General Medicine, Pediatric Surgery, Obstetrics Gynecology, Clinical Biology with two stars of certification from the laboratory of the hospital, Anesthesia Reanimation, Radiology, Community medicine imaging, amongst others.

Infrastructural changes

Prof Noël Essomba appreciated President of the Republic, Paul Biya, who had given instructions permitting the Prime Minister, Head of Government to oversee the implementation, by the Minister of Public Health, major infrastructural changes at the hospital. 

"Laquintinie Hospital in Douala has changed; s transformation based on its values: Humanism, Innovation and Professionalism, and now Competitiveness," he said.

The historic buildings of almost a century old, which were built on approximately 10 hectares of land, have now seen changes in physical appearance. 

A walk from the picturesque and old pavilions show that new modern buildings have gradually emerged such as the Samuel Eto'o and Samuel Kondo pavilions. The centres of excellence serve as host to the cardiology unit, the 3 O's imaging and an interventional cardiology.

It also has an endoscopy room, several pharmacies, oxygen plant, a laparoscopic column respirators, operating microscope imaging, anesthesia resuscitation, oncology and modernised embalming to preserve corpses.

Moreover, the Laquintinie Hospital has an almost limitless social and humanitarian responses towards the population. Thus the health facility's reception of patients of all kinds per year stands at 80% of overall care of public health facilities in Douala and the Littoral Region. 

Lately, it offered free care to victims of the accident which occurred on the National N° 3 on May 26. Its morgue accommodated the deceased free of charge. The hospital is well equipped to take care of serious cases of COVID-19, cholera, HIV/AIDS, cancer, among others. 

With the dynamic innovation, competitiveness and optimal quality of care, management envisages to construct a cancer drug plant, implement a digital medical care system for patients, the acquisition of a linear accelerator, the optimisation of telemedicine or even the construction of an eight-storey building and the installation of an autonomous solar energy in order to compensate for power cuts. 

Laquintinie prides itself of its flagship specialties such as oncology: hematology molecular biology, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, neurosurgery or resonance imaging...

Laquintinie in a nutshell 

The hospital is the largest in Cameroon with more than 5,000 visitors recorded per day. This figure includes patients, nurses and visitors. It has an inpatient capacity of about 712 beds.

Its human resource consists of 1,450 courageous and valiant professionals   composed of 105 medical specialists, 71 general practitioners, 40 medical teachers including four professors, a good number of nurses, stretcher bearers and dedicated security guards.

In recent years Laquintinie Hospital has made numerous acquisitions in order to upgrade its technical performance and provide appropriate care to patients. These include; a state-of-the-art 1.5 Tesla MRI device, a 128-bar capacity scanner, a mammograph and echograph, hemodialysis machines, an interventional cardiology room, a remote-controlled radiology table, an ophthalmological operating microscope. The qualitative leap has enabled the Laquintinie Hospital to position itself at the forefront of healthcare in Cameroon.