• Depressed doctor committed suicide.
• Team to present report on March 30.
A team of experts led by Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman left for Cuba on Wednesday.
The team will look into the circumstances leading to the death of one of the Kenyan doctors studying there.
Dr Hamisi Ali Juma, who was among 50 doctors on a government sponsorship in Cuba to study family medicine, was found dead in his hostel room in Havana, Cuba.
Initial reports indicated he was depressed because of a family problem in Kenya.
It is alleged that the doctor, a brother of Likoni MP Mishi Mboko, had a seven-month-old baby who is sick.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Health CS Sicily Kariuki said she found it necessary to send the experts to establish media reports about the doctors' living conditions.
“With the comprehensive report on the findings, we can be able to address the matter that has been flying around in the media,” she said.
Kariuki cautioned against politicising the matter and promised to make a comprehensive statement once the team brings back its report.
The team is expected to be back in five days and will table a report on March 30.
“Let us be sensitive to the family. Let us be patient until my team comes back with the facts. As for now if I comment I will not be keeping with what I have promised the family. So if we bring the issue into the media too much, it will be insensitive to the family,” the CS said.
Kenya and Cuba signed a deal to bring 100 Cuban family health specialists into the country last year.
They are expected to build the capacity of Kenyan medics in family health medicine, where Cuba is a global leader.
Fifty Kenyan doctors were awarded full scholarships to study a two-year masters programme in family health.
The programme is expected to boost primary healthcare and support universal health coverage.
"The areas of focus of the MoU are training and mentoring in specialised areas of medicine such as family medicine, nephrology, critical care and oncology," the CS said yesterday in a statement.
Last year, the doctors' union had opposed the move to bring in foreign medics, saying they got a better deal than what Kenyan doctors got under the 2017 CBA.
In a statement on Monday, KMPDU secretary general Ouma Oluga said the programme has proven not beneficial to doctors.
Oluga recommended that the sponsorship be provided through the five local Kenyan universities.