Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, a veteran surgeon and educator, and the proprietor of the St. Louis Clinic and University Institute, has advanced a far-reaching reform proposal aimed at correcting what he describes as deep structural failures in Cameroon’s health training and public health systems. Widely known for his reform-oriented social media engagement, Dr. Nick Ngwanyam has branded his policy framework the “Third Option,” a model he believes can restore quality, credibility, and global relevance to the country’s nursing and health technician workforce.
At the core of his argument is the conviction that Cameroon’s current system for training health personnel is overly fragmented and poorly coordinated. Today, nursing education is spread across multiple ministries, with more than 165 schools operating under the Ministry of Public Health and between 200 and 250 institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education. Additional training programs are available under the Ministry of Vocational Training and the Ministry of Defence, utilizing distinct curricula and assessment standards.
Dr. Nick Ngwanyam contends that this dispersion has produced graduates with uneven competencies and limited international recognition.
To address this, the Third Option promoter proposes a complete restructuring of authority over health training. Under Dr. Nick Ngwanyam’s vision, the Ministry of Higher Education would become the sole body responsible for training nurses and other health technicians. All students and institutions currently under the Ministry of Public Health would be transferred to Higher Education, followed by a nationwide audit and vetting process. This exercise would reduce the number of accredited institutions to no more than 150, to enforce restrictiveness rather than restricting access.
Training itself would undergo a fundamental transformation. Dr. Nick Ngwanyam proposes the adoption of United States–based nursing curricula, with local content integrated to reflect Cameroon’s specific disease burden and public health realities. Greater emphasis would be placed on practical, hands-on clinical work. Throughout their training, students across the country would sit standardized examinations written in both English and French, ensuring uniform assessment regardless of institution. A national exit examination would mark the completion of training, but would not serve as a professional license.
Professional certification, according to the Third Option, would instead be anchored in a computer-based examination modelled on the NCLEX, the licensing test used in the United States and Canada. Only candidates who pass this examination will be eligible for registration with Cameroon’s Nursing and Technicians Board. Dr. Nick argues that this approach would immediately align Cameroon’s nursing standards with international benchmarks and eliminate long-standing concerns about variability in competence.
Recognizing the implications for those already in practice, the proposal includes a transitional arrangement for nurses and health technicians who graduated within the past decade.
These professionals would undergo one year of online refresher and discipline-specific training designed to prepare them for the NCLEX-based examination. Successful candidates would then gain registration, while maintaining continuity in the workforce.
Beyond domestic reform, Dr. Nick’s plan places strong emphasis on international mobility. He is calling for the Cameroonian government to negotiate official bilateral agreements with the United States, Canada, European countries, and Gulf states such as Dubai. Through these agreements, Cameroonian nurses would be deployed abroad via structured, government-to-government channels, replacing the current system that often involves high costs, personal stress, and exploitation.
The Third Option also reimagines the role of the Ministry of Public Health. Dr. Nick proposes that the ministry withdraw entirely from training health personnel and refocus on its foundational mandate of public health, hygiene, and sanitation. In this redefined role, the ministry would be held accountable for clean streets and markets, safe water and food, sanitary hospitals, prisons, and police cells, and hygienic conditions in schools, homes, restaurants, factories, and public offices.
Environmental sanitation, including the maintenance of gutters, streams, and public spaces, would once again fall under its authority, with sanitary inspectors reinstated nationwide. Accountability, he insists, must be strict, with dismissal as a consequence for officials who fail to deliver.
While the Third Option has sparked debate among policymakers, educators, and health professionals, it has undeniably placed the issue of standards and accountability at the center of national discussion. Supporters see in it a path toward restoring professional dignity and global competitiveness, while critics question the political will required to implement such sweeping changes.
For Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, however, the urgency is unmistakable. Cameroon, he argues, can no longer sustain a health system that trains professionals without ensuring quality, recognition, and effective public health outcomes.
Whether adopted in full or in part, his proposals have already begun to reshape the conversation about the future of healthcare training and public health governance in Cameroon.
Comments
Post a Comment