The Kenya Medical practitioners and Dentist Union (KMPDU) is now demanding for the immediate termination of the training programme in Cuba claiming that it has not been beneficial to Kenyan doctors.
This follows the death of Dr. Hamisi Ali Juma who allegedly committed suicide in Cuba where he was training under a partnership programme between the two countries.
In a statement sent to newsrooms, KPMDU says the Kenyan – Cuba arrangement has left Kenyan Doctors vulnerable, frustrated, and in deplorable conditions.
They said the Kenyan Government has failed to secure proper housing conditions, pay the promised allowances and allow the doctors to reconnect with their families.
The statement, signed by the Secretary General Dr. Ouma Oluga further says that KMPDU can authoritatively report that Dr. Hamisi Ali Juma had expressed desire to terminate the program.
The doctors further added that they have constantly expressed their frustrations with the manner in which the Government has withheld or completely failed to pay their living expenses in a foreign country.
KMPDU now says the sponsorship should be provided through the five local Kenyan universities offering Family Medicine.
The statement follows reports that Dr. Hamisi Ali Juma committed suicide barely six months into the programme.
He was one of the 50 Kenyan doctors in Cuba sponsored by the government to study Family Medicine as a specialisation under the framework of the MOU between Kenya and Cuba.
The family says the late Ali Juma was constantly complaining of poor working conditions in Cuba and at one point he even lodged a formal request to return home but that was never to be.
