The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) has barred all foreign medical graduates from undertaking their internships in Kenya.
KMPDC, which is tasked with ensuring quality provision of healthcare, directed that all graduates must first undertake an internship in their mother country.
"Foreign nationals will no longer be allowed to undertake their medical or dental internship in Kenya," the Council directed.
"They will be expected to undertake their internship in their country of nationality and subsequently attain registration before proceeding to seek registration in Kenya."
Three days prior, the council had also asked doctors eying to practice in Kenya to ensure that they are certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).
They, as a result, must present their certificates for verification.
"As part of permanent registration by KMPDC, it is now a mandatory requirement for foreign-trained medical and dental graduates to have their documents (undergraduate, postgraduate certificates and transcripts) certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)," the Council ordered.
The directive comes months after the Kenyan Government ended the exchange program with Cuban doctors.
In October, Health CS Susan Nakhumicha argued that Kenyan medical professionals were capable of handling operations across hospitals while providing quality health care.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) had for months opposed the exchange programme arguing that the state was spending exorbitant money to fund it.
Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah, KMPDU Secretary-General, argued at the time that the cost of employing 150 Cuban medical professionals was equal to recruiting 500 Kenyan doctors.
"The scope of family medicine practice in Kenya and Cuba are different, hence the need to train the doctors to adjust to the program," Amtellah highlighted.
"After training in Cuba, they still returned to Kenya and had to undergo two years of training in Kenya so that the medical council could clear them to practice as family doctors. They were being housed by the counties, paid triple the salaries made by Kenyan doctors and given a driver and security at the expense of our local doctors," he added.
The new KMPDC directive is also expected to boost employment chances for local graduates devoid of international competition.
