In New Year message: Health minister urges stakeholders to work in building modern healthcare system.

The task is the content of a letter he addressed to staff of the Central and Decentralised Services of the Ministry of Public Health and affiliated structures, Monday January 8. 
In the letter, a copy of which The Guardian Post obtained, the minister recounted that throughout 2023, and under the aegis of President Paul Biya, “we took decisive steps towards the transformation of our health system”.
Dr Manaouda noted that the ministry acted as a team with determination in implementing Phase I of Universal Health Coverage, UHC, which began in April 12, 2023.
Amongst other things, Minister Manaouda said government, in 2023, accelerated the strengthening of the country’s health system with investments in infrastructure and state-of-the-art technical platforms as well as rationalised the management of Cameroon’s human, material and financial resources.
The said steps, he continued, are in accordance with the roadmap assigned to the ministry, which overall objective is to improve access to healthcare for the greatest number of Cameroonians with the aim of achieving Universal Health Coverage. 
“Thus, thousands or even millions of our compatriots trusted us with the management of their pathologies, mostly living with the pleasant feeling of perceptible progress in the public health service,” the minister boasted in the January 8 letter.
He added that: “I therefore had a lot of pleasure in taking on these many challenges with you, which made it possible to work in depth to significantly improve the framework and conditions for welcoming users, the provision of quality care at an appropriate cost and above all, to ensure better disease prevention”.

Hails collaborators for professionalism 
Minister Manaouda then praised his collaborators for demonstrating professionalism, humanity, perseverance, a spirit of sacrifice but also constant availability and concern. 
He quickly mentioned that: “I would therefore like to commend this patriotic spirit and your high sense of republican duty in an environment which constantly requires the improvement of your working conditions. So, thank you every one of you and together as a team, for the results obtained, the performances achieved and the confidence inspired in patients and users of our services”.

Need for improvement
In his Monday letter, the Minister of Public Health spoke with optimism. He told his collaborators that in 2024, Cameroonians will demand more results from the ministry. 
He said there was therefore need for workers in the sector to make even more efforts to improve the performances so as to continue the profound transformation of the country’s health system. 
The Minister was blunt that “satisfying these legitimate expectations is a challenge to us in a context where resources will not always match needs. You must therefore be resilient, present at your workstations, efficient in welcoming, administering care and following up patients, act at all times in accordance with the ethics and professional conduct of your respective professions and honour our health system”.
Turing to other issues, Minister Manaouda Malachie said he was satisfied with the completion of the establishment of the governing bodies of health professional orders, whose contribution, he noted, will be decisive in continuing the work underway.
He said under the strict supervision of the Prime Minister, the government on its part, will continue to ensure that the working conditions and the most relevant expectations of health workers are gradually taken into account.
“With this in mind, we will strengthen the implementation of our Health System Transformation Agenda, which is, as you know, the operational implementation of the Head of State’s vision in the health sector,” he continued.
“It is therefore from this perspective that together, we must build a modern health system, which guarantees Universal Health Coverage, which performance will be appreciated by all and which will give satisfaction to all: to the health professionals that you are as well as to the users of our services,” the public health boss concluded.