The particular rites relating to it have been held since Wednesday in hospitals.
The rear esplanade of the Eséka district hospital, Nyong-et-Kelle department (Centre region) has been in a particular setting since last Wednesday. A tent decorated with dry palm and banana leaves is erected. Three barrels full of decoctions are placed at the entrance of the tent. Inside, about fifteen chickens (layers) are placed on the ground, with barks placed in the shape of a circle, etc. Traditional leaders seated with crowns made of banana leaves and grass perform incantations. Following the derailment that occurred at the Eséka railway station on October 21, the traditional leaders of this locality have been carrying out the neutralization and purification ritual since Wednesday in public and private health facilities in Eséka. It took part, the regional delegate of Public Health for the Center, Dr Charlotte Moussi, representing the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, prevented. For nine days, all the hospitals of this locality will be purified, as well as the populations, without distinction of tribe and religion. “The bereaved family carries the death chip. In African societies, if you have lost someone by traffic accident, by weapon… a family member can suffer the same fatal accident a few days, weeks or months later. Hence the need for this ritual to neutralize this deadly chip,” confided the “Mbambara” Nicolas Bikaï. And to add: “In the context of purification in hospitals, it is because when there have been bodies, especially in decomposition, there are infiltrations which are a source of disease and spread throughout the city. This is because modern medicine does not fully understand the origin of this morbidity in children. So, it is necessary at all costs to make a local treatment ". The rites end on December 29. The station, meanwhile, had undergone the same ritual a few days after the derailment.
Assiatou NGAPOUT M
