Kenyans are not a happy lot after details have been revealed indicating the deplorable life conditions that Kenyan doctors are facing in Cuba.
A report by The Standard indicates that the Kenyan doctors in Cuba are forced to live in difficult conditions of frustration in their work environments while their Cuban counterparts are enjoying a high-class lifestyle in Kenya.
The Kenyan doctors in Cuba indicated that they cannot afford some simple necessities like tea at 10am and 4pm while on-the-job.
According to the doctors, a cup of tea goes for Ksh 600 per day while an exercise book for their work notes costs Ksh 800.
The government via the Ministry of Public Service is also said to have been disbursing their monthly pays late even as it offers them a mere Ksh 36,000 instead of the agreed Ksh 144,000.
Rashid Aman, the Health Chief Administrative Secretary explained that they are given the Ksh 36,000 since they are offered food and accommodation.
One Kenyan doctor, however, expressed some other concerns of their living conditions stating, “Rooms have no hot water, bed sheets are changed once a week and the AC is turned on only from 10pm to 6am yet Cuba is a hot country. You can’t stay in the room.”
Another issue that is of great contention is that the Kenyan doctors were informed in January that an initial agreement that they would be allowed to visit their families back home at least once a year was expunged from the MOU.
The situation for the Cuban doctors in Kenya is very different. Their job placement in the Ministry of Health fall under job group S.
This implies that they are offered a basic salary of between Ksh 160,000 to Ksh 315,000 in accordance with the Public Service Commission (PSC) salary review of 2017.
According to the doctors’ CBA, the Cuban doctors are subject to allowance amounting to Ksh 280,000, which makes their gross salary to be between Ksh 440,600 and Ksh 595,700.
The revelation of the hardships in Cuba comes after news of a Kenyan doctor who allegedly committed suicide made rounds in the media on Monday.
Dr Ali Juma, who was also the brother to Likoni MP Mishi Mboko, was reportedly found hanging lifeless from bed sheets fastened on a TV antenna in his room.
He was expected in the country by his family for a visit on Tuesday, March 19, and also to see his eight-month-old son who had been unwell for some time.
Juma was one among 50 doctors that left the country as part of a Memorandum of Understanding between Kenya and Cuba in September 2018.
The MOU also saw 100 Cuban medics come to Kenya to boost the capacity of local doctors according to the Ministry of Health.
