Some 20 doctors from Cuba have arrived in the country to give a hand in management and treatment of Covid-19.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the specialized Cuban doctors will be stationed at Kenyatta University Referal Hospital’s isolation and treatment centre to help local medics in managing the virus.
He said the team of doctors is composed of specialists in various medical fields including medicine, oncology, pediatric, renal and cardiology among others.
Kagwe, speaking when he commissioned a new outpatient department at Kiriaini Mission hospital on Friday, said the new team of doctors will go a long way in supporting treatment and management of coronavirus in the country.
He thanked the Cuban government for the extent of support in health care in the country saying since 2018 when Kenyan and Cuban governments signed a partnership, doctors from the two countries have gained much skills.
“The new team of doctors will be stationed at Kenyatta University and will be in the country for six months. The other Cuban doctors are deployed in various counties and am happy to say the doctors are doing a great job,” said Kagwe.
In the partnership, he added that Kenyan doctors have gotten the opportunity to go for further training in Cuba and thus with the new team the local doctors will learn more from the visiting doctors.
The CS further said preparations are complete for ground breaking for construction of integrated Molecular Imaging Centre (MIC) at Kenyatta University.
The centre, Kagwe said, will be the first public molecular centre of its kind in the country and in larger East and Central Africa.
He explained that the construction of the centre will take nine months and will be a big boost to diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
“The MIC will reverse the trend where Kenyans have been seeking molecular imaging from India and South Africa. The centre will be of a breakthrough in treatment of cancer and Kenyans will not have to wait for long before they get needed medical care,” he added.
The centre, he further said, will set up the first public manufacturing plant for consumables used in pet-scan machines.
“This manufacturing plant is called psychotropic and it is only available in South Africa and in some countries in north Africa.” he further said.
He said the president is committed to supporting the health sector to save lives by providing needed equipment and medical facilities to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Meanwhile the CS castigated men for not strictly observing guidelines given to compact spread of covdi-19.
With cases reported in the country, Kagwe noted men take up two-thirds of the total cases saying they should embrace what women are doing to bring down cases of coronavirus.
“Our men are not serious, they are walking around without putting on face masks, not washing hands, failing to keep physical distances thus putting many of them at risk of contracting the virus,” he added.
He lauded home based care of covid-19 patients saying the method has helped many of the patients to recover.
“Home based care especially of asymptotic patients is recommended by WHO and the method of managing the virus has proved to be the best. We have trained over 36, 000 community health workers and soon we will embark to train family members so as to support the home based treatment,” he added.
By Bernard Munyao
