Health CS Cleopa Mailu on Monday said Tanzanian doctors will start working in Kenya in the first week of April.

The CS said the medics would be given two-to-three year contracts, and would be posted to national, county and faith-based health facilities.

Mailu said plans to hire specialist doctors from Cuba was under way to address Kenya’s poor doctor-to-patient ratio and burn-out due to long working hours.

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According to the CS, the move will help address the current shortage of doctors and improve the current 1:6,000 doctor patient ratio. indicated that the foreign doctors are qualified since the curriculum within the East African Community is standardised.

No new exams for new doctors

Mailu also explained that once a doctor is registered in one country, there is no need for them to go through the same process in a foreign land.

“Once you are registered in one country you do not require registration in another country, there are no exams to be done, schools of medicine are assessed by a joint team from the East African Community,” he said.

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President Magufuli said his government accepted Kenya's request for Tanzanian doctors due to the cordial relationship between the two countries.

"Tunapeleka madaktari 500. Wako madaktari ambao hawafanyi kazi sasa hivi na tutawapeleka huko," Magufuli said when he was accompanied by Health CS Cleopa Mailu in a press briefing in Tanzania.

It loosely translates to (We are taking 500 doctors to Kenya. We have doctors who are still not working and we will take them there).

He said the two countries agreed to pay the doctors handsomely and also pay for their accommodation.

However the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Unions Board (KMPDU) said warned that as the Kenyan government continued with the plans of hiring medics from abroad, no Kenyan doctor should ever stay unemployed.