Ministry confirms death of Kenyan doctor in Cuba from suicide

What you need to know:

Kenya's Health ministry official says Dr Ali Juma's body will be flown in by tomorrow.
The circumstances surrounding his death are still not clear
KMPDU deputy Secretary-General Chibanzi Mwachonda says the union will be issuing a further statement on the matter.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that a Kenyan doctor who was undertaking postgraduate diploma training in family medicine in Cuba has committed suicide.

Confirming the reports, the ministry's Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said that the body of Dr Ali Juma, from Mombasa County, would be flown in from Cuba by Tuesday.

“The circumstances surrounding his death are still not clear and we are still waiting on information from the embassy and the authorities.

"The ministry has taken necessary action and informed the family, the county authorities and the governor after verification of the information," he said.

According to one of medics who is part of the exchange programme in Cuba, the late Dr Juma was set to travel this Tuesday to Kenya to check on his wife and eight-month-old son who had been unwell for some time.

Further statement
In a statement, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Deputy Secretary-General Chibanzi Mwachonda said the union would be issuing a further statement through their secretary-general.

While sending condolences to the family, Dr Thuranira Kaugiria, who is the KMPDU secretary-general for Nairobi, said the doctors who travelled to Cuba were given a raw deal and had on several occasions unsuccessfully sought to air their grievances with the ministry.

“It is unfortunate that we had to lose a young medical officer from Mombasa. As a union we had advised against this programme which was clouded with uncertainties we requested that they only move forward when the government had done due diligence,” he said.

“The doctors who travelled to Cuba formally lodged a complaint with the ministry stating that the cost of living was high and that they would like their allowances raised to Sh144,000 a month and yet they were only paid Sh36,000 a month,” he said.

He added that the doctors who had also requested for return tickets back home every year as is the case with their Cuban counterparts in Kenya were informed that they were not entitled to air tickets.