For a start, Cuba’s healthcare system is regarded as one of the best in the world. This is as a result of the late Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader who, through his revolutionary socialist ideology, regarded accessibility to healthcare as a fundamental right of Cuban citizens. 

The healthcare system therefore focuses heavily on a preventative approach to medicine, rather than a curative approach, which is common in Kenya. In Cuba, simple checks such as dental care, medicine, and even home visits from doctors are all covered by the government.

This explains why Cuba is one of the largest exporters of medical practitioners to other parts of the world. Some of the greatest beneficiaries are Brazil and Venezuela. 

Then Kenya joined in. 

So under the agreement with Kenya, the first batch of Cuban doctors touched down in Nairobi from Havana in 2018. This included 53 family doctors and 47 specialists.

The doctors had come at what was said to be the request of county governments, and their contract would last two years before any further action would be taken.

From Nairobi, at least 50 local health practitioners were put on a flight to the Caribbean’s largest island. They touched down in Havana for specialized training. 

Back home, the Cuban doctors were sent to different counties, among them Mandera, Wajir, Isiolo, Lamu and Vihiga. Their mission was to help in areas such as nephrology, radiology, orthopedics, surgery, and neurology. Further, the doctors would help in training local specialists to offer the same kind of care found in Cuba.

Two of the Cuban doctors who were deployed to Mandera County were abducted in April 2019 by Al-Shabaab militants. The two, Assel Herrera and Landy Rodriguez, were fortunately released in October 2020.

While the two doctors were still in captivity, in July 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the world, including Kenya, another cohort of 20 specialized doctors arrived from Cuba to fight the virus. This brought to 120 the number of Cuban doctors in Kenya by this time. 

Before being sent to different parts of the country, the foreign doctors were inducted at the Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete.

Their arrival caused jitters in the health sector in Kenya, with local health practitioners opposing the move saying it would disadvantage those trained and yet to be employed. After the two year contract elapsed, it was extended by former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, much to the consternation of the local doctors. 

Their continued stay in the country is now a subject of push and pull, with the current Council of Governors (CoG) and indeed the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) demanding that they go back to Havana. 

CoG Chair and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said the Cuban doctors are lying idle in the country, raking in millions of shillings while Kenyan doctors are working day and night with meager pay.

Waiguru wants the doctors sent back to their country and local specialists employed to offer services and care to Kenyans. 

Her sentiments were supported by KMPDU, which has been opposed to the importation of doctors into the country. 

Their renewed push is partly motivated by the ‘extravagant’ contracts that these foreign doctors signed. In the contracts, the doctors were guaranteed comprehensive medical coverage under the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). Also, both the national and county governments literally foot all their bills, which range from travel to accommodation and food. 

The national government offers them security, homes, air transport for their holidays, and paid utilities. The county government furnishes the homes, pays for their electricity, water, and gas, among other things.

On top of this, each Cuban doctor earns a monthly salary of Ksh125,000, while the Cuban government receives Ksh500,000 for each of the doctors. In total, the government of Kenya pays at least KSh625,000 per Cuban doctor.

Currently, most of the Cuban doctors are based at Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete after they were withdrawn from their counties of posting due to security reasons. 

It is not clear how long the new contracts will take, but there is push for the Cuban doctors to be sent back to Havana to pave way for the local doctors, especially those yet to be employed.