Ministry of Health awaits decision on Cuban doctors

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Ministry of Health is ready to receive Cuban doctors once Cabinet approves a decision to bring them into the country to support the health sector.

Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health Diana Atwine assured the press in a media briefing on Monday that no decision has been made yet in relation to Cuban doctors as their planned role is yet to be discussed in Cabinet. She said reports that the Cuban doctors were already in the country were false.

She however confirmed two ministers were in a delegation that recently traveled to Havana to find out the possibility of recruiting Cuban health experts. The delegation’s report is yet to be tabled.

Dr Atwine said the genesis of the visit to Cuba by a Ugandan delegation was the doctors strike last year, where one of the complaints was the interns did not have enough supervisors. It was at that point, she said, that President Yoweri Museveni suggested more experts be brought in from abroad to fill the gap.

She said if approved, the plan would be to bring in specialists to train other doctors and interns. They would be based at referral hospitals, many positions which the Ministry of Health and Public Service have advertised but has failed to attract locals.

“The delegation that traveled to Cuba is supposed to present its proposals to cabinet. We will form the way forward after cabinet discusses the proposals, and approves them,” Atwine told the press at their monthly breakfast meeting in Kampala on Monday.

“Many people are just speculating about the hiring of Cuban doctors. The facts of how much, how many and when they’re coming is yet to come.”