According to Law N° 88-022 of 16 December 1988 modifying certain provisions of law N° 84-09 of 5 December 1984 regulating the practice of the profession of nurse, midwife, and medical-sanitary technician, no one may exercise the above-mentioned professions unless he or she is:
– Of Cameroonian nationality;
– holds a diploma of nurse, midwife or medical-health technician, or any other title recognized by the State to practice the profession;
– Registered with the Order of Nurses, Midwives, or Medical-Health Technicians
– approved under the conditions laid down by decree.
The obligation of registration in the roll of the Order provided for in Article 2 above applies neither to persons serving as technical assistants in the administration nor to those belonging to the active cadres of the national armed forces.
Student nurses, midwives, or medical technicians may be allowed to provide health services during their holidays, provided they have successfully completed two years of health training and are supervised by an experienced professional or by medical staff.
Nurses, midwives, and medical-health technicians serving in the administration or those serving as technical assistants may not engage in private practice.
Unless an exemption is granted by the decree, any midwife, any nurse or any medical technician who has directly or indirectly benefited from a scholarship or financial assistance from the State for his professional training, may not engage in private practice unless he has at least ten years of effective service in the administration.
The establishment of a nurse, a midwife, or a medico-health technician in a specific professional residence with a view to private practice shall be subject to obtaining authorization under the conditions laid down in a specific text.
A medical practice, laboratory, or birth clinic may only remain open in the absence of its proprietor if the latter has been regularly replaced.
The normal duration of a replacement may not exceed one year.
In the event of the death of a nurse, a midwife or a medical technician who owns a practice, a laboratory or a health facility, the period during which the surviving spouse or his or her dependants are entitled to maintain the activity by a replacement may not exceed three years; it may be renewed once only.
If, at the end of the above-mentioned period, one of the children of the deceased is engaged in professional studies within the framework of the health training concerned, the health facility of the deceased may be reserved for him.
The modalities of the replacement shall be determined by the authority responsible for public health after consultation with the Council of the Order.
Subject to the derogations provided for in the code of ethics, all nurses, midwives, and medical/health technicians are obliged to comply with the requests of the public authorities.