Cancer patients' care in jeopardy as licensing committee rejects foreign doctors

A standoff pitting the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and foreign doctors hired by the government to mitigate the effects of the health crisis could worsen the situation for cancer patients seeking health services.

For instance, hundreds of cancer patients at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH) in dire need of chemotherapy stand to be affected if the impasse is not solved.

The KMPDC licensing committee has declined to clear four Ethiopian oncologists who have already reported to the hospital to replace the doctors who went on strike.

KUTRRH board chair Prof Olive Mugenda said the hospital hired four foreign oncologists from Ethiopia and one from Malawi after medics at the facility downed their tools.

Prof Mugenda went on to say that hundreds of Kenyans in dire need of chemotherapy had been sent home as there was no one to attend to them, which is why the board, with consent from the government, hired the foreign oncologists and then recalled the patients to return for treatment.

Doctors chant outside the Health ministry headquarters in Nairobi on April 9, 2024, while protesting for demands including better pay and working conditions. (Photo: Simon Maina/AFP)

The KMPDC licensing committee, argues that the four Ethiopian oncologists are not qualified by Kenyan standards.

KMPDC Chief Executive Officer David Kariuki confirmed that the board had rejected the four Ethiopian oncologists.

"In terms of training, they are trained as doctors, but they do not meet requirements when it comes to the clinical experience to work independently; that's how we felt," he said.

"We asked them for their degree certificates as doctors and specialist certificates as medical oncologists. What they presented was not satisfactory. This is not about the ongoing strike. We are a very independent committee whose mandate is to ensure Kenyans get quality healthcare," a senior licensing committee member, who is not authorized on behalf of the board, said.

"This is why our committee has officially rejected them. They have completed fellowships in some areas of oncology, but do not have the necessary skills that even we as members would trust them to treat us."

Prof. Mugenda has, however, rubbished the claims against the foreign medics. "This is what I want to tell all these KUTRRH medics saying these things, let us not politicise healthcare. The CEO, Mr Dagane, is away on leave, and there is an acting CEO in place. This was the board's decision," she said.

"After consulting with the board, we decided to hire some foreign doctors to help us, with permission from the government. So far, the facility has enlisted the services of four oncologists from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Tanzania, allowing some critical services to resume," she said.

Mugenda explained that medics at the referral facility who stopped working have letters of dismissal, while some have been issued with suspension letters.

The industrial action is in its fifth week. President William Ruto this week said the government's offer is final. Ruto expressed dismay at leaders endorsing the strike.

"If you support them [the doctors], pay the money they are asking for," the president said.

He insists that the government's offer is final — a position the KMPDU firmly rejects even as the court issued the government and the medical union 48 hours to agree on a deal.