--------------Patial View of Banso Baptist Hospital-----------

Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH) is the first of five Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) Hospitals. Established in 1949 out of a government cottage hospital with four small buildings and 20 beds, BBH has grown to a current bed capacity of over 250 with a staff strength of about 500. BBH today stands as one of the most renowned hospitals in Cameroon. It provides exemplary services through Christ-centered, evidence-based health care practices to over 70.000 patients annually (in-patients and out-patients) from all over Cameroon and some neighboring countries. It has been nicknamed "America" because it was started by an American.
Banso Baptist Hospital staffs provide support services to Baptist Hospital Banyo (BHB) and Dunger Baptist Hospital Mbem besides supervising 11 rural integrated health centers in three divisions of the Northwest Region. As a District Hospital, BBH provides preventative health care services to the local community. 
In 1980 BBH served as the base for a pioneer primary health care network (Life Abundant Primary Health Care (LAP). LAP now covers more than 40 villages with basic health care built on community effort.  The Hospital also serves as a training site for the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). The first batch of two surgeons graduated on June 23, 2007.
Besides being an approved HIV/AIDS treatment Center, Banso Baptist Hospital provides a comprehensive healthcare package in the following domains:
General Consultations and in-patient services
Eye Care/Surgical services
Dental Services
X-ray/Ultra sound services
General and Orthopedic surgery
Pharmaceutical services
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care
Laboratory services
Physiotherapy Services
Reproductive Health/Family planning
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV
Community Based Rehabilitation Services
Hospice Care (Palliative Care)
Technical Services Department
Rest House/ Catering Services

General Consultations and in-patient services
BBH has a localized outpatient department (OPD) designed to considerably reduce patients’ waiting time. With qualified and motivated staff, an average of 9,500 patients is seen monthly. A new ultra modern OPD was constructed in 2012 and 300 chairs put in place to give needed comfort to clients. There are eight wards in BBH; Maternity ward, Pediatric (Burkitt Lymphoma ward), Surgical ward, Men’s ward, Women’s ward, Observation ward, Ulcer ward and Private ward. As far as in-patient care is concerned, emphasis is placed on quality with the desire to move towards the nursing care of the yesteryears.
Eye Care/Surgical services
Eye Care services in BBH have greatly improved over time. BBH has an ophthalmologist who carries out general consultations and surgeries.  Two surgery days   have been fixed a week with an average of six surgeries conducted. It takes approximately 2-3 days for patients to be discharged after surgery. Working in collaboration with other departments in the hospital like Community Based Rehabilitation, staff working here carry out outreach activities during which sensitization and eye screening are done with difficult cases referred to the hospital for proper care or surgery.
Dental Services
The CBCHS oral health programme (Dental Services) started in the late 1960s with just a few volunteers and Missionaries. Today, there are five Cameroonian Dentists, six Dental Therapists, 12 Dental Assistants, 14 Expanded Duty Dental Assistants and close to 30 Dental Auxiliaries. The average number of dental cases seen monthly in all CBCHS Dental clinics today stands at 3,500 in 2013 as against 50 in 1970. The CBCHS today runs 10 Dental Clinics in six of Cameroon’s ten Regions and 9 are functional. These are located as follows:

1. Centre Region (Yaounde): Etoug-Ebe Baptist Hospital and Ekounou Baptist Health Centre
2. Littoral Region (Douala): Mboppi Baptist Health Hospital
3. South West Region: Baptist Hospital Mutengene, Kumba Baptist Health Centre

1. North West Region: (Bamenda) Nkwen Baptist Health Centre, Mbingo Baptist Hospital, Banso Baptist Hospital

5. Adamawa Region (Banyo): Baptist Hospital Banyo (Not functional)

6. West Province (Bafoussam): Bafoussam Baptist Health Centre

Most clients are low income earners who depend on the CBCHS Oral Health Programme for their dental health. However, the Programme also regularly receives the well-to-do. As at now, this programme is the largest oral healthcare provider in Cameroon.
Services offered include:

1. Scaling and Polishing
2. Extractions
3. Fillings (Composite and Glass Ionomer)
4. Root Canal Treatment
5. Removable partial and complete dentures
6. Third molar surgery
7. Management of facial injuries/mandibular reduction
8. Removable orthodontic appliances
9. Some cosmetic dentistry
10. Facial veneers using composite
11. Crowns and bridges.

Achievements
The CBCHS Oral Health Programme was the first in Cameroon to fill adult (permanent) teeth with high viscous Glass Ionomer using the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment technique (ART). This technique is a new approach in the management of dental caries without using dental drill, plumbed water, or electricity. ART involves using hand instruments to clean dental cavities and filling with an adhesive, fluoride-releasing material – Glass Ionomer (High Viscous). The treatment process needs no anaesthetic because pain and discomfort are rare. This approach is entirely consistent with modern concepts of preventive and restorative oral care, which stresses maximum effort in the prevention and minimal invasiveness of oral tissues. The ART technique has enabled the CBCHS Oral Health Programme to go beyond the age of amalgam fillings and Black’s Principles of cavity preparation, with the hope of conserving as much tooth tissues as possible with maximum comfort. The goal of the CBCHB Oral Health Programme is painless dentistry for all.
To improve on her dental services, the CBCHS purchased three complete modern dental chairs and plans are underway to acquire more. In the same light, the CBCHS started recruiting Dental Auxiliaries from the Cameroon Baptist Convention Private Training School for Health Personnel (CBC PTSHP) in 2012 to boost the quality of services.
Community Oral Health Programme 
The CBCHS started the Community Oral Health Programme in 2009 in Banso Baptist Hospital with support from Dentaid, a British dental charity organization devoted to the improvement of oral health in disadvantaged communities around the world. The programme has as focus to meet clients at their doorsteps in the fight against oral diseases.
This innovative initiative commenced with a School Oral Health Programme in primary schools. The programme offers oral health education, supervise daily tooth brushing (using tooth brushes and toothpaste), fill teeth using the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) technique, and do minor extractions.
It is worth noting that Dentaid initially supported the CBCHS with 10 dental surgeries, expert advice, workshops in dental equipment maintenance, infection control in dentistry, and Atraumatic Restorative Treatment.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Bouetou Tantoh Z. Theresia (Dental Surgeon)
Supervisor, CBCHB Dental Services
Tel: +237 7767 2143
Email: dental@cbchealthservices.org

X-ray/Ultra sound services
The BBH X-ray/Ultra services are as old as the hospital. Though with limited equipment they offer quality services to the population. They follow invention prevention norms to the latter.

General and Orthopedic surgery
 A resident surgeon from Mbingo Baptists Hospital comes in to carry out consultations and scheduled surgeries. With recurrent accident and born disorders, the service is of great help to the population.
Pharmaceutical services
BBH runs a Central Pharmacy (CP) satellite store which works hand in glove with the CBC Central Pharmacy (CP) in Mutengene to supply the hospital and her satellite stations with drugs and medical supplies including IVs, eye drops, CP soaps, etc.
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care
BBH is a government approved HIV/AIDS treatment center. The centre works with an average of 500 registered cases annually. One of the achievements of the centre is that it has worked over the years to curb the high default rate by clients to treatment resulting to good adherence that has seen the drop in the HIV transmission rate in the community. In spite of the irregularity in the supply of ARVs to the hospital, they have remained on top as far as the treatment of HIV/AIDS clients is concerned.
Laboratory services
BBH has a well equipped laboratory with a CD4 machine. In a bid to continue to provide quality health care to all, the hospital recently acquired a Clindiag Hematology Analyser machine. This new technology in the laboratory has considerably reduced patients’ waiting time as it has the ability to run multiple tests on a blood sample in about 10 minutes. Similar tests hitherto took about five hours.
Physiotherapy Services
PT services in BBH have continued to grow by leaps and bounds. Apart from regular consultation and treatment of clients, the PT department undertakes community outreach in collaboration with the Community Based Rehabilitation programme. During these outreaches, health education is given to the population and minor treatments performed. They identify persons in the community in dire need of wheel chairs and as donations come in the clients are given the wheel chairs free of charge.
Reproductive Health/Family planning
This programme educates and provides family planning methods to clients and carries out cervical and breast cancers screenings plus outreach activities.
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV
Working hand-in-glove with Reproductive/Family planning and Maternity services, this programme focuses on educating women to fight the transmission of HIV from mother to child while combating infant and maternal deaths. They pay particular attention on carrying outreach activities aimed at giving health education to women and recently the target is on encouraging men to accompany their partners to antenatal clinic for the wholistic care of their families.
Community Based Rehabilitation Services
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy within the community to provide services to people living with disabilities. The programme does basic screening to identify persons living with disabilities and refer them to specialized services within the community. They provide mobility training to persons with visual impairment, teach sign language especially to homes of children with hearing impairment and provide activities of daily living skills training. All of these are geared towards   enhancing social inclusion of persons living with disabilities in the community. For some statistics, 48,430 people listen to talks on prevention of disabilities in 949 venues, 36 persons with disabilities have received vocational training through apprenticeship programmes and 192 persons with disabilities have acquired daily living skills, mobility skills and orientation skills through the programme.
Hospice Care (Palliative Care)
Palliative Care is relatively new in Cameroon. Its purpose is to improve on the quality of life and reduce suffering among people with life-limiting health conditions. Experiences gained at the Model Unit in Banso Baptist Hospital are currently being replicated in other services across the country. Palliative care is the active total care of patients and their family members, whose disease conditions are not responsive to curative treatment. Aspects considered to be of paramount importance to Palliative Care include pain and symptom control, psychological, social and social support. Given that controlling pain in patients with critical health conditions has not been given due attention in most health institutions in Cameroon, the CBCHS lays emphasis on Palliative Care as a crucial service necessary to bridge the health continuum in the country and beyond. The Palliative Care programme plans and delivers holistic care through an interdisciplinary team to make the burden of providing care lighter on caregivers in times of critical need. Beneficiaries of the programme are patients with HIV/AIDS related complications, patients living with cancer, patients with other chronic conditions which affect their functional ability and quality of life. The need for Palliative Care in Cameroon is enormous. Nevertheless, the CBCHS is making major efforts to reach as many patients as possible with Palliative Care services through hospital-based care and home visits in the communities though with very limited resources. The programme in BBH is currently working with over 200 clients in Bui and Dunga Matung Divisions of the Northwest Region.
Technical Services Department
The department offers construction, plumbing, carpentry, electrification and general maintenance services to the hospital. In addition to this the department runs an apprenticeship training programme that trains young Cameroonians in the aforementioned trades.

Rest House/ Catering Services

The hospital has a rest house of about 30 rooms (including LAP) for visitors and staff lodging. The staff here are welcoming with quality food and cleanliness of rooms guaranteed. There is also a canteen that sales quality cheap food to patients, caregivers and hospital staff.

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Contact Information
Banso Baptist Hospital
P.O. Box 9, Banso
Bui Division, North West Region
Cameroon, West Africa
Tel. BBH Admin.: (+237) 7776 4785
       BBH Security: (+237) 7847 9628