GYN CHRONICLES
On The Cuban Doctors
Manenos
Dr. Maureen Owiti
O
n June 6th 2018, I watched with
awe the hero welcome the first
batch of Cuban doctors received.
The saying came to mind when we are
told that a prophet cannot be a ‘prophet’
in their own home. Thus is the folly of the
Kenyan doctor.
I remember my first posting to Coast
Provincial General Hospital many years
back as a Medical Officer Intern, when we
had to find our own way to the hospital
(luckily at that time internship was only
in big centers) and had to survive on the
good will of friends and relatives till you
received your first pay 6 months down the
line.
The only benefit was probably that you
could be lucky to get a house that was
unfurnished. So here you are just a roof no
bed, beddings or anything to cook with.
An intern is expected to report on duty
on time and work extra hours I think
only by God’s grace and the good will of
friends and neighbors and lunch given by
the hospital did we manage. To get your
salary it involved several trips to Nairobi
and every time you find that your file does
not exist. I hope and pray that this is a
thing of the past.
But you can imagine that you now have
to borrow money from the hospital or
Having trained outside for my undergraduate
I remember vividly going through tough board
exams and worse internship (done by all med-
ical doctors in their respective countries). It
was only after this process that I earned the
honor to treat people in Kenya. Why is this be-
ing flouted to have foreigners treat us without
undergoing any form of certification? What is
so special about them and if this be the new way
of doing things can all Kenyans who are study-
ing abroad then be exempt from this rigorous
process.
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friends to finance these trips and by the
time the money came you are seriously in
debt. But we thank God we lived to tell the
tale. Yet we have foreigners who arrive to a
red carpet welcome. I am happy for them
and hope they live up to expectations. I
just wish people could also recognize their
own local heroes!
Both the government and the courts have
maintained that the Cuban doctors were
hired to fill the gap in the public health
sector. At face value, in my opinion this
is a very noble initiative: however its
execution leaves a lot to be desired. Hiring
Cubans will not solve the crisis in health
care: it is an honest commitment to health
and other sectors such as education,
agriculture and so on that may make a
difference.
Medicine is a noble profession and we
strive to uphold the profession. The recent
mass action by doctors has not been
because we want to go on strike and it is
unfortunate that we have to reach such
levels.
All Kenyans are expected to be patriotic
and in my own way I feel doctors and
most honest people working in the Civil
Service are patriots. A patriot is someone
who vigorously supports their country and
is prepared to defend it against enemies
and detractors. A different dictionary
gives the definition as a person who loves,
supports and defends his or her country
and its interest with devotion. I like the