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When I revisited Cameroon early in 2008, Dr
Daniel Muna overcame all odds to attend the funeral of Mr. George
Fogweh in Ngyenmbo village. He
left a note in Douala indicating he had gone ahead to Ngyenmbo
village.
When I arrived Ngyenmbo, I was startled by what I witnessed, for
disease and urban migration had removed the middle generations,
leaving the houses and the paths to the very young and the very old,
except the word “old,” even when teased out by the adjective “very,”
still doesn’t convey the magnitude of age that I witnessed.
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Perhaps
ancient is a better word if ancient applies to bodies that seemed
dried, like grapes, in the Sun, bodies that are hunched and gristly
and stiff, with faces rutted with wrinkles. Except there is one man
who caught my attention – Dr Daniel Muna (Ni Dan). Dr Daniel Muna’s
dreams were for him to retire and work in Ngyenmbo village gratis for the
rest of his life. But now he was ill and had to set the dreams aside
for the moment.
The description of Ngyenmbo village confirmed phone conversations
with him before the trip. He listed the contradictions of the
village where I once spent time as a kid. Something appears to be
changing our society at home! Those who live there are accustomed
to their surrounding and all they believe in is God. It's what
keeps
them going!
When I saw Dr Daniel Muna in Ngyenmbo village, he too had changed.
His health was failing him. He sat on a chair in his Dads
home and we all stirred. My mind was clouded, trying to decode Ni
Dan, the one I spent holidays with when I was a kid and working at
the hospital with when I became an adult.
This story should be familiar to many who often return home to find
that many families have disappeared. Ni Dan was not the only change,
but Ngyenmbo village too had changed; its metamorphosis seemed to have
run the other way. It was greener and quieter and smaller, with far
fewer people, as if it were a young village recently seeded in the
bush. Behind rising fauna, lush plants uninhibited by the hands of
generations strong and numerous enough to tend to it, I saw
buildings that once housed familiar families. His Excellency S.T.
Muna known to us as Big Papa left us. Then there was Mr. George
Fogweh and many others.
I quickly learned not to ask: “Where did everyone go?”
Such a question released a string of stories, told in a herky-jerky
style, with many corrections and amendments, and often marbled with
tears or anger for old, slumbering hurts between the teller and the
scattered or missing families roused unintentionally by my
curiosity. And if someone else happened along, they volunteered
their own stories of the dispersal of the families and the two
tellers could forget about me, in their determination to be the one
that held the history.
Dr Daniel Muna studied me! We talked about his health
and what he does most of the days.
Back to my recent visit! I recalled this man, Dr Daniel
Muna who regularly spent all night with me after performing at times
six surgeries a day to discuss plans for better patient management
and procedures. I was COO and he provided leadership as CEO of the
hospital. Such planning took most of the nights and ended about
mornings when he left not for his home to rest but to the consulting
room or operating room. He saw one patient at a time and together he
transformed good work ethics at Polyclinic Bonanjo. And the
patients left satisfied.
We never forgot where we came from. It was Dr Daniel
Muna’s idea. Policlinic Bonanjo was the last hope for most people,
those who couldn’t afford the cost of nivaquine in the village but
had saved enough money to make that final trip to Douala. Dr Daniel
Muna would always ask two rooms blocked - two rooms that sandwiched
the room where a village Chief was hospitalized – Rooms that fetched
at least 18,000 FCFA a night. And these rooms blocked for months and
months just to provide an environment suited for the dignity of our
Fons. And when they were discharged, Dr Daniel Muna provided
medications, transportation and an allowance. And the villagers too
who came from distances to see him left satisfied. He would make
time between all scheduled appointments to consult, treat or
hospitalize them. They went back home with medications, allowances
and transportation costs. We absorbed the bills, and sadly, we paid
taxes to the Government for the charity services. A private hospital
also served as a public or charity hospital for most Cameroonians.
It is what Dr Daniel Muna wanted. He gave back to the community.
This story seems lost and no one has heard it in its entirety. Just
bits and pieces here and there from families impacted one way or the
other!
No
matter how you look at it, Dr Daniel Muna was a good man!
When Dr Daniel Muna told me that it was over, he managed
to consult patients at least once a week and still perform
surgeries. He died helping others. I am a little troubled that he
saved so many lives and when it came to his turn people tried but
God said NO! It is time for him to rest!
Maybe I can find solace with myself through his leadership
and caring. The phone calls he always made to me dwindled for more
than two months. And when I called his cell phone, the unavailable
message was “This is Daniel Muna. Leave message please!” And then
the voice mail was full!
Agwo Tata
Boston - USA
By Agwo Tata
Dr Daniel Muna was my first leadership teacher. As COO of Policlinic
Bonanjo, I had a front seat to see his decision making style. The
success of Polyclinic Bonanjo in providing quality and affordable
services to insured and un-insured patients depended on effective
leadership.
Dr Daniel Muna
believed in organizational and social cultural values. His active
participation in MECUDA, Meta Elite and co-founder of MEFAC (Meta Fons
Association) are examples of his cultural awareness and obligations to the
society. Dr Daniel Muna reminded me that, despite our western education we
should use acquired talents to explore new ways, ideas and solutions to
better the lives of the people in Cameroon. He recalled how villagers
offered free services unselfishly to others such as building huts, and
never seeking praises or rewards. He elaborated African Socialism in a
collaboration foreword write-up with Professor Wali Muna, MD, PhD to my book, “The Mysterious Virtues of Pal Abanda”. Dr Daniel
Muna reminded me that leaders teach by example. This element of
leadership is explained through modern leadership concept of a meaning
maker and stewardship.
Dr Muna
indicated that for us to help people, we must learn to work as a team.
Through teamwork, we started developing leadership in others to create
measurable results. Polyclinic Bonanjo S.A. concentrated on effective
services compared to major state institutions that had adequate medical
equipment but limited effective medical staff. It became clear that effective
patient management was at the core of quality patient care. The cost of
the successes of Polyclinic Bonanjo S. A. didn't come easily. There was
always the opportunity cost
alternatives that included hard work and sleepless nights. Dr Daniel
Muna focused on evolving medical challenges or we developed solutions
for challenges or around the
challenges to produce the same results.
My years at
Polyclinic Bonanjo provided a foundation for healthcare management, a
job I now hold for some of the world’s best hospitals today. And I owe
the foundation to Dr Daniel
Muna. He was a steward leader, a dialoguer,
and a facilitator. These qualities helped shaped a potent
team for accountability and success. We created an altogether new paradigm shift through
framing and reframing but always exercising humility, restrain and
focusing on hard work. We developed a bottom up strategy called backward
mapping and forward mapping known as top-down management approaches.
Polyclinic Bonanjo became the first delivery system to be computerized
in Cameroon. It became one of two hospitals to be recognized by Blue
Cross Blue Shield. We worked with UN organizations such as UNDP and UNICEF
by providing medical services to their staff in Cameroon. Due to excellence
in patient care/management, Polyclinic Bonanjo S.A. signed a medical collaboration
contract with Exxon, now ExxonMobile to cover patients and work related
injuries for workers of Chad Cameroon Oil Pipeline.
Despite these contracts with intentional organizations, we continued to
play a major role in caring for patients who came from all parts of
Cameroon and neighboring countries such as Chad and Central African
Republic. Polyclinic Bonanjo was a community hospital substituting for
un-necessary medical evacuations. .
Dr
Daniel Muna transformed healthcare in Cameroon. Though we have a long
way to go in healthcare management strategies in Africa, I see a bright future. And I hope that many of us
will return when the
environment can support innovative healthcare management including EMR,
EDI and EDD to facilitate transparent healthcare collaboration.
(If you are interested in US Healthcare policy debate, visit
www.whit-sons.com) |
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