Legal Medicine in Cameroon : Smec welcomes its first personal injury experts

The related ceremony was held on February 16, 2024 in Yaounde, in the presence of several health, educational and legal authorities.

 There are a total of 7 of them. This very first Cameroonian class of doctors who are experts in personal injury is the result of the collaboration between the Learned Society of Legal and Expert Medicine of Cameroon (Smec) and the Legal Medicine Laboratory (LML) of the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Yaounde I. These various experts join the Smec team in the implementation of its objectives in order to increase the supply and improve the quality of medicolegal services in Cameroon. The ceremony held in Yaounde on February 16, 2024, was an opportunity for this young learned society to note major advances in the field of forensic medicine and medical expertise in the country. A step which marks the start of a new era for forensic medicine and medical expertise in Cameroon, paving the way for strengthened collaboration between health and legal professionals.

“That to all the people who today have requests from the courts, a better assessment of their damage for better compensation. We know today that if the evaluation is not done well, then the judgments will not be pronounced fairly and the reparations will not be appropriate. The objectives that the Learned Society of Legal and Expert Medicine of Cameroon has are firstly the promotion, popularization and scientific endorsement of all medical practices in the legal field. In other words, we aim to ensure that all those who work at the request of the courts, insurance companies or lawyers have the appropriate training and we also position ourselves as a bridge between all those who request quality expertise. and those who are the experts on the ground,” indicated Professor Eric Seme, president of Smec who is also a lecturer and forensic doctor, expert in the courts.

 Indeed, the legal practices of medicine bring together a set of disciplines which aim to shed light on the nature of the damage, the circumstances of its occurrence and the after-effects which result from it. Unlike the medical examiner, the personal injury expert is a professional who specializes in cases of personal injuries caused by accidents, assaults or other incidents. Its role is to assess the damage suffered by the victim and to determine the appropriate compensation to claim. “As much for the deceased, the forensic doctor will provide elements useful for the manifestation of the truth as for the living, the specialist in personal injury will provide the applicant with a technical assessment allowing appropriate compensation for the damage,” specifies the president.

In view of the above, the new experts within SMEC therefore have a role to play in the promotion and development of forensic medicine and medical expertise in Cameroon, by contributing to research, training, innovation and public awareness. This ceremony notably saw the presence of the representative of the Ministry of Justice, the representative of Higher Education, that of the Rector of the University of Yaoundé I, the Prosecutor at the courts of first and high instance of Monatele and the representative of the Order of Physicians of Cameroon, to name but a few. All in all, the welcoming ceremony of these first experts symbolizes the dynamism and vitality of SMEC, which is resolutely committed to meeting current challenges and improving standards of health and justice in the country.

About SMEC

Created on May 11, 2023, the Learned Society of Legal and Expert Medicine of Cameroon works to promote, popularize and practice legal medicine, medical expertise and associated disciplines. In perspective, it aims to organize a practical training workshop on the clinical and psychosocial management of domestic violence before the end of February 2024 and its very first scientific congress on the problem of medical accidents before the end of the year. The company welcomes this significant progress and invites all relevant stakeholders to join it in order to position themselves as key players in the field of health and justice in Cameroon.

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