On December 31, 2007 while addressing the nation, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya said “…I intend to instruct the government to provide provincial hospitals that do not yet have any with dialysis equipment and scanners to relieve patients who are obliged to undertake long and tiresome journeys...”

This statement was re-echoed by the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, last Friday June 8 as he officially inaugurated the Yaounde Teaching Hospital haemodialysis centre which was renovated and equipped by the Japan Tokushukai Medical Corporation.

The Minister of Public Health said the event reveals one of the concrete realisation projects of the Head of State and marks another fruitful page in the relationship between Japan and Cameroon. The centre brings the number of Haemodialysis centres in the country to seven. The Minister used the occasion to announce that by September this year, there is hope to open the Bertoua and Ebolowa dialysis centres.

In the presence of the Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon and Cameroon’s Ambassador to Japan, André Mama Fouda expressed gratitude to the government of Japan through the Tokushukai Medical Corporation for renovating the centre which consists of 10 modern dialyses machine, with a capacity of 70 to 80 patients and a water treatment station with two coal filters, among others. The government of Cameroon, on its part, rehabilitated the premises of the centre and also purchased some 7,058 dialyses kits that will help take care of patients for the next 12 months. The centre which was opened two days before its initial inauguration date had already admitted some 30 patients with acute kidney problems.

The Tokushukai Group has also promised to train some Cameroonian medical and technical personnel who will work alongside with Japanese staff at the centre. The dialysis centre offers a wide range of haemodialysis facilities for hospitalised patients and outpatients with chronic or acute renal failure requiring dialysis treatment. The centre also caters for patients in Intensive Care Units and those who are critically ill and suffering from acute renal failure.

On behalf of the Tokushukai Medical Corporation, Katsuyuki Noso said the ideal of Tokushukai Group is that patients can live their lives with confidence. Noso noted, “Tokunshukai’s ideal is a society where everyone has access to optimum medical care whenever it is needed. Inspired by the mission of realising this ideal and putting ourselves in the patient's shoes, we devote all our efforts towards regional expansion and improvement in the service to the entire population”.