Tanzania's President John Magufuli. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By BEATRICE MATERU in Dar es Salaam
No Tanzanian doctors will be exported to Kenya following a court objection in the latter.
The Tanzanian government has officially stopped the process,
saying the medics would instead be deployed to the home health
facilities.
“While our government continued to complete the process of
recruitment of doctors to Kenya, five Kenyan doctors presented an
objection in court demanding that the government of their country cease
recruiting doctors from Tanzania,” said Health minister Ummy Mwalimu in a
statement Wednesday.
Stumbling block
According to the Health ministry, a total of 496 medical doctors
applied for opportunities in Kenya, among them 258 specialists, “but
will be hired in the country as per president’s directives”.
“The President of the United Republic of Tanzania has decided
that the 258 doctors who were ready and qualified to work in Kenya,
would be employed by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania,”
said Ms Mwalimu.
She explained that despite the current stumbling block, Tanzania
would be ready to negotiate afresh the Kenya government's request for
500 doctors.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli last month announced that his
government was planning to send 500 doctors to Kenya to help address a
shortage occasioned by a three-month doctors’ strike.
That was after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had sent an emissary to his Tanzanian counterpart.
However, on March 31, a Kenyan court temporarily barred Nairobi from hiring foreign doctors.
Medical officers
Tanzania through, the Health ministry, had already sent out invitations to qualified medical officers in the country.
The successful candidates were to be given two
to three-year contracts in Kenya.
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