A mobile phone footage in which a woman with no medical training cuts the belly of a dead mother so as to save the unborn baby has angered Cameroonians.
A family member conducted the Razorblade operation in open air right outside Douala Laquintini Hodpital maternity ward after the medical staff failed to offer help.
One of the twin babies died but eye witnesses say that the other baby was alive but died shortly afterwards.
An hour before this occurrence, Monique Koumateke was ready to deliver and was rushed to the hospital by family members in a taxi after becoming ill.
The midwife on duty informed the family that she had died and asked them to take her to the mortuary.
Then an attendant noticed that there was a possibility the twins were alive.
Her mother spoke to BBC and said that “The mortuary attendant even came and said the babies were still kicking inside the stomach.”
“We went to the maternity ward [again] but they chased us away.”
However, after going back to the main hospital, they were informed that no person was able to help.
This made one of the relatives, Takeh Rose, to get a razorblade and try to rescue the twins.
Those present at the scene filmed the whole occurrence which was shared on social media.
Hospital not to blame
Following the uproar, the midwife, mortuary attendant, Ms. Rose and the nurse on duty were arrested. They were later on released on bail as investigations go on.
Hospital officials are yet to provide a comment on the incident but the Health Minister has said that the state-run institution is not to blame.
The heated online debate has also attracted a judge of the Supreme Court n which he posted on Facebook that the comments made by the minister ought to be investigated.
Protesters in Douala have been calling for Mr Fouda to resign.
Civilian leaders such as Ferdinand Ndifor have called for investigation into the health system in Cameroon. The opposition on the other hand said that the incident depicts the challenges being faced by Cameroon’s health care.
Mr. Ndifor asked: “Are the hospitals equipped? Are there enough doctors on duty?” he asked.
“We want to know – will this happen again tomorrow?”