After winning Best Eye Hospital Award: Magrabi eye hospital CEO commits to maintain quality services.

The quality of its services is compared only to those in Europe, America, Asia...

It's therefore no surprise the Head of State, Paul Biya, visited this hospital a few months ago. 

The hospital has won multiple awards since inception in 2017. This time around, it won the Best Eye Hospital Award. The award was handed to the hospital by Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers Association, CENPA. This was during an award ceremony, which took place at Yaounde Hilton Hotel Yaounde July 25.

In this interview shortly after the award ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute, Dr. Henry Nkumbe, reiterates to hospital’s commitment to maintain the quality services it offers. 

Excerpts.

Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute has just won yet another award offered by English Language Newspaper Publishers Association, CENPA, how do you feel after this additional feather on the cap of your health institution? 

Thank you for inviting me for this interview. I must say that I am pleasantly surprised and feel truly honoured by this award. 

Since creation Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute has distinguished itself as evidenced by its numerous awards. Can the public know some of these awards?

Prior to the very prestigious CENPA award, some of the awards won by MICEI include:

•Best Private Hospital in 2021 at the awards ceremony for excellence in health leadership in Cameroon organised by the Echo Santé Group and chaired by the Cameroon Minister of Public Health;

•Award for the Best Hospital in Cameroon for 2021, received at the “Prix de l’Avenir” organized by the media houses (Cameroonian Communication Agency and the Cameroonian Media Owners’ Network); 

•Best Service to Humanity 2021 Award at the 19th edition of the “2021 Achievements Awards” organised by The Guardian Post, a media group, for providing quality eye care to patients at affordable prices;

• MICEI was awarded a “Grand Prix Health D’afrique” in August 2023 by “Les Awards des Avenir” in November 2023.

What's the secret? Can the public know what makes this hospital so special, drawing even the attention of the highest authorities in the country?

The awards we have received over the years, I believe, are a sign that our patients and civil society are aware of and have decided to encourage us for the quality of the services we rendered. This quality is a reflection of the very high standards our staff have set for themselves, and the joint efforts to ensure these standards are kept. The credit goes to the staff of Magrabi ICO Cameroon Eye Institute. 

Meeting health challenges especially with the eye can be very expensive. What's your hospital doing to address the eye treatment needs of the common man, especially those in the rural areas who cannot afford?          

Good health is one of the most precious things that anybody can aspire to have. Therefore, we all have to do all we can to promote and preserve good eye sight.  In December 2023, Seva Foundation (based in the USA) published the results of a study, which showed that when we invest one US Dollar in activities such as cataract surgery or provision of corrective eye glasses, the return on investment to the direct beneficiary of this service and to society in general is a whopping 35 US Dollars. The 35x multiplier effect makes investing in eye health the healthcare intervention with one of the highest returns on investment. Imagine investing 1 million FCFA and having a return on investment of 35 million FCFA. So, before we say eye care is expensive, it would be helpful to consider the cost of not doing anything. This includes not just the economic loss, but also reduced quality of life, reduced life expectancy (people who become blind have a life expectancy about five years shorter than normal-sighted persons). 

That said, we have put in place a community eye health programme, through which we not only educate the public (this interview is one such opportunity), we also organise free eye consultations in underserved communities. For such consultations, we work closely with community leaders. Patients identified with treatable conditions such as cataract are offered surgery, the cost of which are at times covered by the community leaders we partner with or sponsors, who appreciate our work and wish to offer sight restoring or sight preserving treatment of their eye conditions.  While we have so far performed 370,000 eye consultations, more than 63,000 of them are entirely free of cost to the patient, thanks to our community eye outreach programme. 

However, I advise us not to wait for these free campaigns (organised by us or other eye care professionals) or for there to be a major problem with our sight before consulting an eye specialist. 

Can you remind the public again of the different eye specialisation services offered by this hospital? 

We are currently the only eye care facility in Central Africa which offers subspecialty services in retinal surgery, pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus, glaucoma, cataract and refractive surgery, uveitis, orthoptics, low vision, orbit and oculoplastics, ophthalmic imaging, optical services etc., all under one roof. We have been able to perform more than 20,000 complex eye operations on Cameroonians as well as many patients from neighbouring countries. Cameroon has therefore become a medical tourism destination for eye care, while the Minister of Health has significantly reduced medical evacuations out of the country for eye care. Most patients needing complex treatment or surgery are referred to us by the Ministry of Health. 

How well adapted is the hospital to meet world class standards?     

In addition to the state-of-the-art equipment, which are of the highest standards you can find anywhere in the world, we have put in place a robust training programme, which ensures that our subspecialised ophthalmologists, nurses, opticians etc. undergo further training as well as refresher courses out of the country. This exposure to what obtains at the leading eye care centres in the world helps us ensure that our standards remain at par with what prevails abroad. We are working on expanding our visiting faculty programme, to improve experience sharing and raise further the standards of care we provide as well as the trainings we provide. 

We understand training of experts in the Sub- region also goes on here, can you explain?     

We obtained accreditation from the West African College of Surgeons, WACS, to train ophthalmologists. WACS was created about 65 years ago by Prof Victor Anomah Ngu. With a membership of more than 10,000 surgeons, I believe it is one of the biggest organisations of healthcare professionals in Africa. 

To be eligible for the WACS programme, candidates must pass an entrance exam (primary) set by WACS. We also run short courses for ophthalmologists interested in learning cataract surgery. 

MICEI is recognised by the International Ophthalmology Fellowships Foundation (IOFF e.V.) and the Ophthalmology Foundation (OF) for short term subspecialty fellowships. For the latter, we have successfully trained candidates from Nigeria, Madagascar and Burundi and this I consider a big achievement, since there are only three ophthalmology training programmes in Africa with such recognition. 

Finally, we run short courses for nurses, ophthalmic technicians, optical technicians, refractionists etc. So far, more than 250 candidates from 13 African countries have been trained at MICEI. In 2023, we successfully trained the first retina surgeon to be trained within the CEMAC region. This has taken the number of retinal surgeons in Cameroon from two to three.  I think this is an achievement we are very proud of. 

How connected is this hospital with similar ones in Africa and even the world? Any collaboration?   

We have close collaboration with hospitals in Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt and India. We are working on broadening our partnership base. 

As an expert, any advice to the public on how to care for their eyes and prevent unforeseen eye problems?

A healthy lifestyle is very important. This starts with healthy eating, a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding tobacco, reducing time spent on digital devices especially among children, respecting the 20:20:20 rule to reduce ocular fatigue etc. Children, especially boys, should avoid playing dangerous especially with projectiles, as these can cause irreversible vision loss. Finally, every child should have at least one complete eye exam in childhood, adults up to the age of 40 should have their eyes checked at least once every three years, while those above 40 should do same every two years. We should not wait until we notice an eye problem, especially deteriorating vision, before consulting.

Thanks for talking to us. 

It's our pleasure. Thanks for inviting me to this interview.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Issue No:3184 of Tuesday July 30, 2024