Taxpayer burden in curing Cuban doctors’ language problem

Kenyan taxpayers will have to bear the financial pain of hiring language translators for the already well-paid Cuban deployed to counties this week.

The reality of this inevitability hit home when the doctors started interacting with patients and had difficulty diagnosing ailments, especially in remote areas where residents’ grasp of Kenya’s two official languages- Kiswahili and English- is limited at best.

The Cuban doctors mostly speak Spanish. Nandi governor Stephen Sang, also chairman of the Council of Governors Intergovernmental committee, on Thursday said the devolved units would engage services of translators to make it easy for the Cubans to communicate.

“Governors are ready to work with Cuban doctors, but the main challenge facing counties is that they would require translators to make the doctors work without obstacles,” said Mr Sang.

He made the announcement when he received two doctors who have since been deployed to Kapsabet and Nandi Hills county referral hospitals where majority of the residents communicate in the Kalenjin language.

Mombasa will also give its three Cuban doctors Kiswahili lessons to overcome the language barrier, Governor Hassan Joho said. He said his administration will ensure the specialists familiarise themselves with the national language for smooth service delivery.

“There is no need to worry. We will ensure they learn the language since they have already shown interest. But they will also not be working on their own as our local doctors will be there to help them in dealing with any cases,” said Mr Joho while addressing journalists at his office where he received the doctors.

The government has set aside a Sh1 billion budget to cater for salaries and other benefits for the 110 Cuban doctors who will serve in local hospitals for two years.

They will take-home up to Sh882,180 per month, making them among the best paid government employees.

READ: Cuban doctors beat MPs with Sh800,000 salary

They will get this in addition to furnished homes, air fares during their annual leave, paid utilities and transport from both the national and county governments.

The devolved unit received an ophthalmologist, gastroenterologist and a family doctor. Artilez, the ophthalmologist and Dr Lilian Zuniga Fernandez, a gastroenterologist are working at the CPGH. The hospital is the largest referral health facility in the region with a 700 bed capacity.

He said counties from Lake Victoria summit had instructed Chief Officers for Health to have exchange programmes that would see their pool of Cuban doctors serving patients from counties such as Vihiga, Kisumu and Kericho.

When they started to work in the Maternity Wing of Kapsabet Hospital, the two Cuban doctors asked health staff and Kenyan doctors not to step inside the unit with shoes saying it’s a crime in Cuba to do so.