Language barrier is the latest challenge the Cuban doctors have faced after a group of Kenyan doctors unsuccessfully challenged the national government’s decision to hire them/JOHN GATHUA
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 5 – Cuban doctors deployed to National and County Referral Hospitals are reporting to their workstations countrywide following their arrival early last month.
Some of the 100 specialized doctors are however facing a new challenge especially those deployed to far-flung counties where most patients are only conversant with the national language, Kiswahili, or their respective vernacular dialects.
In Nyeri for instance, two specialists who reported to the county’s referral hospital on Wednesday were forced to enlist the services of interpreters as patients struggled to communicate with them.
“The patients here are only speaking in Kiswahili but in the next four or five months I will be speaking Kiswahili better than them since I will learn the language “polepole”,” Diana Rosa, a family physician with more than 20 years in the profession told Capital FM correspondent at the Nyeri Referral Hospital.
The other specialist, Dr Eisy Cabrera, a nephrologist with more than 8 years in the profession, will also have to enlist help as she struggles to converse in English.
Cyrus Njoroge, the Medical Superintendent at Nyeri Referral Hospital however stated that they are impressed the doctors have reported to the county saying he was confident they will deliver as expected.
In addition, he said that the problem of language is not unique in the medical profession noting even in Kenya a medic can be posted in an area that people do not understand the national language and they only seek help from educated local people or are assisted by local medics in the respective facilities.
“I know as they said there is language barriers; but this is not unique to them because even us as professionals even within our country there is a place you can go and work and the people there do not speak the national language,” Njoroge said
He said that the hospital will offer two interpreters from within the health facility to ensure their work is made easier and they offer services fully.
In Nakuru, two Cuban doctors settled in quite well with Governor Lee Kinyanjui urging them to share their expertise with local doctors.
“It is important that the medics share on the Cuban healthcare system to their Kenyan colleagues so that they continue with the same practices once the foreign doctors go back home,” said the Governor when he received family physician, Dr Mayroliz Benitez Rodriguez and a cardiologist, Dr Yanelys Herrera Soto.
“We will also have exchange programs with neighboring counties on the Cuban doctors during their two-year stay to ensure that residents get treated by different specialists,” said Kinyanjui.
He promised to help the two medics to deliver their mandate by ensuring they are accorded relevant support.
Nakuru Health Chief Officer Dr Samuel Mwaura said the county was in talks with neighboring counties to organize an exchange program so that the county can be served by different specialists.
“The doctors at the referral hospital are excited to receive the Cuban doctors and are eager to learn from them,” Mwaura added.
In Kajiado, a family physician and a urologist reported at the Level Four Hospital on Wednesday, the urologist already having a dozen patients booked.
“We were received by the doctors here in a great way I must say,” the family physician said.
“We speak Spanish in my country and here we have to learn English which we are already making good progress. Kiswahili is a challenge though I must say,” the urologist remarked.
Language barrier is the latest challenge the Cuban doctors have faced after a group of Kenyan doctors unsuccessfully challenged the national government’s decision to hire them
The application was dismissed on June 19 when the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that the petitioners had not provided sufficient evidence to stop the hiring of the Cuban medics.
“Assuming that there are Kenyans with skills of the specialized Cuban doctors, statistics exhibited are enough proof that this breed of specialized doctors are urgently needed upcountry where even younger Kenyan doctors do not prefer to work,” Justice Onesmus Makau ruled.
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