• F Binam, P Malongte, G Beyiha, J Ze Minkande, S Takongmo, and G Bengono.
• Département de chirurgie et spécialités, Université de Yaoundé I (UYI) et de l'Hôpital de la Police, Yaoundé, Cameroun. binam@serveur.cm.refer.org
• Med Trop (Mars). 2002 Jan 1; 62 (3): 251-5.

AbstractThe aim of this month-long cross sectional study was to evaluate the preparedness of health care institutions in Cameroon to provide rational management of emergency patients. During January 2002 a survey was carried out to list all health care institutions offering emergency care services and to determine their other departments and available equipment and staff. A total of 144 institutions with emergency care facilities were found including 12 central reference hospitals and 123 district hospitals equipped to provide primary emergency care. In relation to a population of 15 million inhabitants, the ratio was one reference hospital for 104180 inhabitants and one district hospital for 100,000 inhabitants. None of the services involved in emergency management had facilities for emergency treatment on an outpatient basis. Regarding hospital-based services, an emergency ward was available at the 12 central reference hospitals for a ratio of one ward for 1,250,000 inhabitants. This ratio was 10 times higher than in France in 1994. Almost all major equipment and trained personnel for emergency care medicine were concentrated at the central reference hospitals but these resources were insufficient to organize round-the-clock services except at a single site. The findings of this survey indicate that the distribution of health care facilities in Cameroon was relatively adequate in relation to population density but that equipment and human resources were still insufficient to provide rational management of emergency patients.

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