Doctors recite the Hippocratic Oath before the official opening of a
Kenya Medical Association annual conference in Nyali last month. FILE
PHOTO | NMG
Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) on
Thursday hit out at the government’s decision to import Cuban doctors
who are not known to practice medicine according to international
standards.
KMPDU secretary- general Ouma Oluga also
criticised the Medical Practitioners and Dentists’ Board for failing to
conduct peer review of the Cuban doctors and properly advice the
Ministry of Health on the merits of importing them.
Dr
Oluga told the National Assembly’s Health Committee that board members
who went to Cuba to assess the qualifications of the Cuban doctors did
not administer medical qualification examination that meets Kenya’s
acceptability criteria.
He said the board needed to
independently assesses every doctor before granting licences to practise
in Kenya – an exercise he insisted could not have been done by next
month.
“The process of peer review has two aspects, the first being
practical where a fellow doctor in the same field observes your work and
deciphers whether you are competent. The second bit involves three
standard exams, which must administered to them -- a process that takes
between six months and one year,” he said.
Dr Oluga
said there are 171 specialists spread across the same disciplines as the
Cuban doctors, who graduated since February last year and have not been
employed.
“The same government is saying they don’t
have money to absorb 171 specialists trained by taxpayers’ money for six
years and then turn around and spend even more to bring in doctors from
outside,” he said, even as he insisted that the association has no
problem with their Cuban colleagues but maintained Kenya does not need
them.
“The process was hasty, devoid of any stakeholder
engagement and we will work hard to keep the government accountable as
the doctors’ union. We are still awaiting our involvement in the deal,”
he said.
The
100 specialists will arrive next month despite opposition from the
doctors. Plans are also under way to send 50 Kenyan doctors to Cuba for
training.
The Cuban specialists comprise of nine
critical care physicians, three cardiologists, five orthopaedic
surgeons, three plastic surgeons, five nephrologists, three urologists,
one neurosurgeon, two endocrinologists and 53 family physicians.
On
Wednesday, the Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said in a
statement that the criteria of narrowing down on the 100 was based on
the gaps existing in Kenya. A major criterion, she said, was specialists
to utilise the Sh38 billion worth of Managed Service Equipment (MES) in
the counties.
“In addition, Cuban government will
support the Kenya Medical Training College to develop local programmes
for training community health workers, clinical officers and nurses in
family medicine to strengthen primary health care,” she said.
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