Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu has invited medical professionals who would wish to work for public hospitals to apply fro jobs even as the ministry seeks to bridge the gap in the doctor to patient ratio on the country.
Revealing that the new doctors hired from Tanzania will report to Kenyan hospital by the beginning of April, Mailu said the 500 doctors will be distributed in national, county and faith based institutions
He said the process of recruitment is ongoing and called on Kenyan medical officers who are interested in working in public hospitals to apply for the jobs.
The CS reiterated that the government will continue to look for more medics to bridge the gap of the current ratio of about 1:6000 to a reasonable number.
“This is an attempt to address the issues raised in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between doctors’ union and both the national and county governments,” he said.
Mailu who spoke after touring Kenyatta National Hospital yesterday said the government has decided to employ foreign doctors on two-year contracts as it seeks to improve on training and increasing the number of doctors to meet the international standard.
“The attainment of World Health Organisation recommendation of ratio of 1:1000 doctors can only be realized progressively,” he said.
He called on critics not to misconstrue the noble initiative which is intended to improve the quality of service in public hospitals as well as reduce the working hours for doctors from 50 hours per week to just 40 hours.
