by Valentin Siméon Zinga, Cameroon, July 1997
THEME = HEALTH
In Yaoundé's Central Market, more than 20 stalls display medicines which are normally found only in chemist shops. People are very busy there: haggling over prices; trying to decipher a medical prescription in order to sell the medicines. Yet, a few month ago, not far from there, the Government had large amounts of stocks incinerated, considering them to be dangerous. This move followed a ministerial order, signed by the Ministers of Health, Industrial Development and Commerce. But this action had no long-term effect at all.
Following the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994, the price of medicines (which many people already could not afford), soared. The State was unable to persuade pharmacists to align their prices, so that the interests of pharmaceutical firms were safeguarded, and, at the same time, the people's needs were catered for.
So, what happened? People rushed to buy medicines from the street chemists. These street chemists sell their products at nearly half the price of the same medicines found in conventional chemists shops: 500 CFA francs for a box of Dolliprane 500 (16 tablets); 400 CFA francs for a box of Dafalgan; 10 CFA francs for one tablet of Nivaquine. A rummage through the various products on sale, shows that various kinds of antibiotics are mixed up with vitamins and anthelmintics.
A privilege of the poor? Not at all! One so-called "expert" street chemist says: "Our customers come from all classes of society. Many state employees and even senior officials shop here through "intermediaries"".
Official chemists tend to look distastefully at the whole business. After all, they are the professionals!
But where do the street chemists acquire their supplies? One explains: "We have many supply sources. Our countrymen bring us medicines from Europe. Some of us can also go and buy in neighbouring countries where medicine regulations are more flexible". Obviously, he's not going to "tell all" because the authorities are after him. Some of the boxes and bottles have labels in English - pointing to their Nigerian origin. Wherever they come from, these products are of two types: generic ones prepared by European pharmaceutical laboratories, destined mainly for hospitals in poor countries. Then come the "pharmaceutical products" (brand names) which are normally only sold in official chemist shops.
Customers, who are more and more numerous, don't worry much where the medicines comes from, how they are packaged, and what names are written on the labels. All this to the chagrin of the Cameroonian authorities, who, for some time, have been intensifying their raids on the street chemists. One victim of these heavy-handed operations, recalls: "Police officers who are sent here, behave like "G-men" during the prohibition period in the USA! Street chemists are frequently arrested and their merchandise confiscated, though occasionally, some of us, manage to rescue part of the goods". The scenario is almost always the same: the owners can get their confiscated goods back, if a suitable "arrangement" is made with the cops. "This is not corruption", explains a seller, "first and foremost, we are Africans, and, at home here, one expresses joy with a gesture. Do you see what I mean?"
As a result of the police activity, street chemists have experienced some slowing down in their activities, but not enough to drive them out of business. "And here lies a paradox", says one street chemist. "The State says that we are involved in illegal activities, yet all of us are paying a substantial business tax (brought into existence some two years ago. It amounts to 3,000 CFA francs every quarter, and is paid into the state coffers. We do not understand this". In addition, every street chemist has to pay 100 CFA per day to the City Council, for the privilege of occupying the pavements.
Thousands of Cameroonians, many of them recipients of secondary or tertiary education, are trying to find out of the unemployment trap. Vending on the streets is one way to improve their situation in life. Even if sales' profits vary a lot, (1,000 CFA francs- 10,000 CFA francs a day), the essential is achieved. They say: "It one way to survive. this kind of activity allows us to feed our families and pay our rents".
Nevertheless, many street vendors want the State to take another look at its policy concerning this sector of private industry. They say: "If the selling of medicines on the streets could be regulated, we would all be the better for it. Our businesses would flourish and at the same time, we would be paying taxes into the Public Treasury. In so doing, we would contribute to the country's economic growth. But nobody has ever bothered to look into the matter".
Only one thing is certain: In Bofoussam, Bamenda, Douala, Yaoundé, thousands of Cameroonians still buy their medicines from street chemists. And the street chemists still insist that "they try to alleviate the sufferings of the population, the victims of the present economic crisis".
And why? "Because health is a priority".
END