Gov’t Denies Imported Cuban Doctors will Earn More Than their Kenyan Counterparts

The Kenya government has refuted reports that the 20 Cuban doctors hired to help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic will pocket sky-high salaries.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe termed the reports as untrue, saying the foreign medical specialists who arrived in the country on Friday will be paid like their Kenyan counterparts.

He further explained that the Cuban medics are in the country to exchange skills and expertise with their Kenyan counterparts attending to Covid-19 patients.

“We are not paying more than what we pay our own and I want this to be noted clearly. It is a small brigade of doctors who are specialists in their own areas who have come to help us, we learn from them and they also learn from us,” said Kagwe.

The doctors with a specialty in internal medicine, oncology, cardiology, renal, and pediatrics will be deployed to Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) and will work in the country for three months.

“With the COVID-19 cases rising, these specialized doctors will go a long way in supporting our doctors in managing the disease and also in exchanging of skilled development,” added Kagwe.

The team is drawn from the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade established by Fidel Castro in 2005 to handle emergencies and serious epidemics.

President Kenyatta is said to have personally phoned his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel requesting him to send in the medics.