Kenyan government is always known to swing to action after catastrophe knocks.
The Kenyan doctors sent to Cuba in 2018 to further studies in family medicine had raised their concern about how they are surviving in the foreign land with their noses slightly above water but the state could hear none of it.
However, sadly after one doctor, Dr. Ali Hamisi Juma passed on under unverified circumstances, on Sunday, March 17 at his residence in Havana, Cuba, the government has responded to have their salaries increased by more than 50 percent.
In the latest move, the Ministry of Health has written to Attorney-General Paul Kihara seeking clearance to implement the pay raise.
Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache says the medics will earn Sh144,000 per month, up from the current Sh50,800 if the proposal is approved.
Dr. Hamisi Ali Juma, who was a brother to Likoni MP Mishi Mboko, allegedly committed suicide weeks after the Kenyan doctors complained of struggling to cope with life in Cuba.
The Kenya- Cuba MOU saw 100 Cuban specialists move the opposite direction to Kenya to work in county hospitals.
“After they complained that the money was not sufficient given the high cost of living in Cuba the ministry enhanced their pay by 35 percent, which is why they have since the beginning of this year received Sh50,800 a month,” says Ms. Mochache.
“We have written to the Attorney-General to change the agreement and request for enhanced amount because they are entitled to 25 percent of the Sh144,000.”
PS Mochache has also denied claims that the Kenyan doctors are being held in the Central American nation against their will.
“The programme was voluntary and we are not keeping anyone against their will. In fact, there was one of the medics who came to seek treatment in the country and after discussion with her doctor she asked to leave the programme and we terminated her scholarship,” she explains.