Doctors in Cuba get 188pc pay rise

Kenyan doctors in Cuba are set to get a 188 percent pay rise to Sh144,000 per month as part of reforms to the State-sponsored training prompted by the death of their colleague.

Health Secretary Sicily Kariuki Wednesday said the doctors’ allowance will be increased from the current Sh50,800 per month to address their complaints over the high cost of living in the Caribbean nation.

The allowance had been set at Sh36,000 when the doctors left the country late last year, but had been reviewed again in March.

The trainees who are undertaking long courses will, however, no longer get free food and accommodation, which they were getting before the review of the allowance.

Challenges

“The ministry has already moved to address the challenges posed by the high cost of living by providing an enhanced allowance, which will allow students to seek accommodation outside the university premises,” she said.

The meals and accommodation were being provided by the Cuban government in the students’ hostels since September 2018.

“At the proposal of the Ministry of Health of Kenya, both parties have agreed that the accommodation and meals of the Kenyan students will be an obligation assumed by the Kenyan party through the delivery of a stipend,” reads a modification of the Memorandum between the two countries that was sent to the Attorney-General on March 18, 2019.

The doctors had also requested for return air tickets every year like their Cuban counterparts in Kenya, but were informed that they were not entitled to them.

The doctors’ union blamed the death through suicide of Hamisi Ali Juma on poor living conditions in Cuba.

A female medic has also withdrawn from the programme, attributing the exit to medical reasons.

Stipends

The government is now expected to pay a total of Sh138 million in stipends for the remaining 48 doctors.

So far, the ministry has spent Sh13.3 million on allowances for the medics since their departure for Cuba in September 2018.

According to the memorandum between Kenya and Cuba signed in Havana in April 2018, the Health ministry is also supposed to pay a total of Sh4.71 million per doctor for the duration of their course, which ends in September 2020.
This means that the total fees for the remaining 48 doctors amounts to about Sh226.6 million, exclusive of their return air tickets.

The doctors were also offered a one-time book allowance of Sh50,000 and Sh75,000 for research, which totals Sh6.2 million.

On-the-job training

During their time in Havana, the medics are expected to get on-the-job training in polyclinics, mental health centres, clinical and surgery centres, rural hospitals, natural and traditional medicine centres, and other accredited training centres.

The training programme for the specialists in general comprehensive medicine will include a total of 4,494 hours, which is equivalent to 93 academic credits.

They are expected to cover 46 academic credits in the first year and 44 credits in the second, upon which they will take a graduation examination that is equivalent to three academic credits.