Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli has rescinded a decision to offer doctors to work in Kenya to mitigate the recently called off strike.
Magufuli on Wednesday directed that 258 medics who had applied and qualified to offer services in Kenyan hospitals, be employed in Tanzania.
The decision was announced by the country's Minister of Health Ummy Mwalimu, who divulged that the two governments had been failed to reach an agreement on how the Tanzanian doctors would amicably work in Kenya.
“President Magufuli has decided that all 258 doctors who were waiting to go to Kenya should be employed locally. We will in due course, publish in the Ministry website, names of the doctors and areas where they have been posted,” stated Mwalimu.
In March, Kenya, through Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu, asked for 500 doctors from the neighbouring country, a request which Magufuli accepted.
The offer was, however, contested by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Dentists and Pharmacist Union (KMPDU) which insisted there were more that 1400 unemployed medics in the country who would offer the same services.
The move to hire the Tanzanian doctors was later stopped by the Employment and Labour Relations Court following a case filed by five Kenyan practitioners, who argued that the government should first absorb the unemployed medics before hiring foreign labour.
