Cuban doctors set to leave as Health CS Nakhumicha says local medics equally good
Then Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe (left) addresses Cuban doctors stationed at the Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital during the launch of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Intensive Care Unit on August 5, 2020.
The government has cancelled contracts for Cuban doctors, six years after signing an agreement with the Cuban government in 2017.
Making the announcement on Wednesday, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha expressed confidence that Kenyan health professionals were just as good as their Cuban counterparts.
"The ministry will not renew contracts with the Cuban doctors. I believe our own doctors are equally committed to the cause," the CS said. While acknowledging the various challenges faced by health workers locally, Ms Nakhumicha said the government has taken steps to ensure medics are properly trained and their welfare taken care of.
"We are aware that health workers at both national and county levels face major challenges, ranging from training and development to welfare, performance management and motivation, and staff mobility, including transfers between counties and the two levels of government. However, despite the challenges, health workers continue to dedicate themselves to serving Kenyans. Ms Nakhumicha was speaking during the official opening of a two-day forums dubbed: “Pre-National Dialogue on Human Resources for Health” at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club in Nairobi.
The event is a precursor to the National Dialogue on Human Resources for Health, which will be held in Kericho County next week on October 18.
The move to terminate the Cuban doctors' contracts comes a month after members of Parliament joined governors and the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists' Union (KPMDU) in calling for the cancellation of the agreement between Kenya and Cuba.
The National Assembly Committee on Health has said that the Cuban medics have served their purpose and it is time they left the country.
The committee that is chaired by Endebess MP Robert Pukose further noted that the continued presence of Cuban health workers in the country has put Kenyan doctors, who would otherwise be employed and earning salaries, at a great disadvantage.
The government is estimated to have paid about Sh625,000 to each of the 120 Cuban doctors working under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme.
This is made up of a salary of Sh125,000 and an additional Sh500,000 from Kenya.
The salaries are a far cry from the amount of money paid to 50 Kenyan doctors who have gone to Cuba for specialised training and who, according to KPMDU secretary-general Davji Bhimji Atellah, have to endure deplorable living conditions.
Under the exchange programme signed between Kenya and Cuba in 2017, Cuban medics were to be flown into the country to assist in county hospitals while their Kenyan counterparts went for specialised training.
The CS applauded lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate for fast-tracking the consideration of three important bills that will “revolutionise the country's health sector”.
“As we speak, we have four critical bills in Parliament that are specifically designed to accelerate the attainment of UHC. These are the Social Health Insurance Bill (2023), the Primary Health Care Bill (2023), the Facility Improvement Financing Bill (2023) and the Digital Health Bill (2023)," she said.
