Minister of Health, Community, Development, Gender and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu
THE government has announced that it will employ all doctors who had expressed willingness to work in hospitals in Kenya.
This follows moves by Kenya’s High Court to stop that country’s ministry of health from recruiting doctors from Tanzania.
This was revealed here yesterday by the
Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and
Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, noting that President John Magufuli had now
decided that the government would now employ all the 200-plus doctors
who had been vetted to work in the Kenyan hospitals.
Ms Mwalimu explained that the government
had already vetted 258 out of 496 who expressed willingness to go work
in the Kenyan hospitals since it (government) announced the 500 slots on
18th to 27th March, this year.
“Following a rigorous vetting against
the requirements which included that they must have valid certificates
from respective authorities, be aged not more than 55 years old, be
registered under the Medical Association of Tanganyika, among others, we
got 258 doctors,” she explained.
Ms Mwalimu explained that the
president’s decision had been prompted by moves by the Kenyan court
which effectively stopped the recruitment of the Tanzania doctors
destined to work in the Kenyan hospitals.
“Both sides had agreed that the process
of getting the doctors would be completed by 6th April and that the
doctors would be ready to travel to Kenya between 6th and 10th of this
month … but since the Kenya court has not lifted its decision as we
speak, Dr Magufuli has decided that the government will employ the
doctors,” she explained.
She explained that the government had
not initially engaged the doctors due to lack of funds, “but he is the
Head of State …without doubt he knows where he will get the money to
employ these experts in (our own) health sector.
” However, she stressed that the
government would be ready at any time to work afresh on the Kenyan
request for 500 doctors - if they still have the need and if they
cleared their own court injunctions.
Last month, an envoy from the Kenyan
government led by the Minister of Health, Dr Cleopa Mailu, arrived in
the country seeking audience with President Magufuli and at which the
Kenyan official sought permission to hire 500 doctors from Tanzania for a
two-year work contract in the country.
Dr Magufuli agreed to the request and
directed the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly
and Children to work on the process of getting the number of doctors on
request. “The difficulties of Kenya are the difficulties of Tanzania …
we agree to send you these 500 doctors to provide care to our brothers,”
President Magufuli then said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the government has expressed
disappointment over a story carried by one of the local daily Kiswahili
newspapers with a headline saying ‘Gonjwa la ajabu linavyoua nchini’
literally meaning a “strange disease is killing people in the country,”
clearly referring to hemophilia disease.
Minister Mwalimu who was in the company
of the ministry’s Permanent Secretary (PS) warned journalists against
blowing thing out of proportion and scaring the public – with stories of
a ‘new disease’ that ostensibly requires new strategies when the
disease, in fact, is hereditary.
Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya, the ministry’s PS,
said hemophilia is a rare disorder in which your blood doesn’t clot
normally because it lacks sufficient blood-clotting proteins (clotting
factors).
He said hemophilia also called factor
VIII (FVIII) deficiency or classic hemophilia, is a genetic disorder
caused by missing or defective factor VIII, a clotting protein, noting
that the country had enough experts to handle it and that the public
shouldn’t get overly alarmed.
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