Medics: Counties are frustrating local specialists
Doctors demonstrate on the streets of Nairobi during their prolonged strike last year. The medics are accusing county governments of rejecting local specialists in favour of foreigners. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenyan specialists are accusing county governments of rejecting their applications and seeking Cuban specialists instead.
They claim that when they apply for posting, they are instructed to wait for instructions from the Public Service Board on interviews that have not been forthcoming.
An orthopaedic surgeon has accused Homa Bay County of denying him a chance to practise, opting to apply for a Cuban specialist in the same field.
“I applied several times and my application was rejected on the basis that the county would contact the Public Service Board before my appointment, but now they are getting a Cuban orthopaedic surgeon,” said the doctor who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Kisumu County has also been accused of rejecting the applications two Kenyan neurosurgeons. One returned after studying in the US, while the other who applied in 2015 now works in Eldoret as a consultant.
“Before a specialist doctor is licensed and absorbed, they have to work under another doctor in the same field for two years. They were all denied the chance,” said Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union Secretary General Ouma Oluga, while accusing county governments of frustrating Kenyan specialists by not paying their salaries while on further studies and refusing to provide release letters, among other complaints.
FRUSTRATIONS
“When you want to go for further studies, you are required to get a letter from your employer releasing you and they are supposed to pay your salary while you study. This has not been happening. They either refuse to give you the release letter or they stop paying your salary. It is frustrating,” said Dr Oluga.
He mentioned Kakamega, Nakuru and Nairobi as some of the counties which have not released letters for the doctors to go for further their studies. According to Oluga, 12 doctors from Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi were allowed to go for further studies, but the county stopped paying their salaries. In Nakuru, four doctors were denied release letters, while in Kakamega, a doctor studying to be a gynaecologist was denied a release letter and her salary was stopped. Murang’a, Mombasa, Siaya, Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties have also been accused of denying their doctors a chance to become specialists.
However, Council of Governors Health Committee Chairman Mohammed Kuti denied the allegations that the devolved units were denying local doctors chances to further their studies. He said that Cuban doctors were being hired to provide an extra hand in counties without specialists, and that the move is not to spite local doctors.
According to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board’s (KMPDB), there are 2, 591 specialists in the country and that Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit and Vihiga counties have no single specialist. The doctor’s union, on the other hand, says that there are 171 local specialists who have not been absorbed by the government.
“They would have given us another reason for bringing in Cuban doctors and not that we don’t have specialists in the country. Why are they being denied the job? And why do we still have local specialists who are jobless,” posed Dr Oluga.
HIGHLY-PAID EMPLOYEES
Kenya is importing 47 specialists and 53 family physicians from Cuba. They are set to join the list of highly-paid government employees following their placement in Job Group S that comes with a take-home pay of up to Sh882,180 per month.
The Cubans will also get furnished homes, paid utilities, transport and airfare during annual leave.
The doctors have been distributed to counties with Siaya, Nandi and Wajir getting a radiologist each.
Five nephrologists will go to Taita Taveta, Migori, Busia, Nyeri and Embu counties, while five orthopaedic surgeons will work in Homa Bay, Nyandarua, West Pokot, Garissa, Lamu.
Three plastic reconstructive surgeons will go to Murang’a, Kisii and Elgeyo Marakwet and one neurosurgeon to Kisumu, while Mombasa will get one gastroenterologist. Kitui County got one maxillofacial surgeon, Machakos one dermatologist while Mombasa will get an ophthalmologist.
Other specialists include three urologists, two endocrinologists, three cardiologists, two anaesthesiologists, two neurologists, five general surgeons and nine critical care physicians.
Dr Oluga said all the cadres of specialists hired from Cuba are available locally and wondered why the government chose to ignore instead of absorbing them, after training them with taxpayer’s money for six years.
He added that local specialists had been discriminated against by being put in Job Groups M, N or P instead of S and T as negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement last year.
He added that the Cuban medics will work for 40 hours a week while Kenyan specialists work for 55 to 96 hours and still earn a fraction of the expats’ salary.
