The Lamu council of elders are asking the national government to bring back Cuban doctors to help the ailing health sector in the region.
The council chairperson Salim Kambaa said doctors Liliana Casos, an orthopedic surgeon and Dennis Orozco, a family physician, are an exceptional duo whose services the Lamu people are in dire need of.
The two served for about 10 months after their deployment in July 2018 before they were evacuated by the military in April 2019 from the King Fahad Hospital.
This was after an incident where two Cuban doctors operating in Mandera were abducted and taken hostage by al Shabaab militants as they headed to work the same year.
It was later established that the Mandera doctors had been sneaked into Somalia by the militants where they remain held to date.
Subsequently, the government issued an alert on April 15 of the same year recalling all Cuban doctors operating in four counties bordering Somalia, including Lamu, Wajir, Tana River and Garissa.
Security agencies have listed some parts of Lamu as terror-prone owing to a spate of terror attacks that have rocked the region in previous years.
The council, have asked the government to rethink the move and repost the Cuban medics to help the people of Lamu as the county is safe.
“They were living here on the island and were very safe. We understand the concerns of the government to keep them safe but we also want them to listen to the voice of reason and bring them back. Their services were of great help and its not fair that people suffer,” Kambaa said.
Security reports indicate al Shabaab militants have been subdued and most of their hideous and camps destroyed by security officers undertaking the Linda Boni security operation that has been underway since October 2015.
The operation was launched by the government with the intent to flush out militants believed to be holed up inside the Boni forest from where they would hide and retreat before and after conducting attacks on Lamu and neighbouring counties.
The elders asked the government to look into the ailing health sector in Lamu and consider posting more medics to the region.
Orthopedic patients, for instance, have to be referred to Mombasa and Nairobi counties for attention.
“The gap left by the medics has not been filled and it’s the patients who continue to suffer," Mohammed Mbwana, an elder, said.
"The health sector is not the same without them. We have an orthopedic wing here but cannot use it because they are no specialists,” he added.
In a previous interview, the county health office has said chances of the Cuban medics returning to Lamu is nil.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
