KMPDU Sec Gen Ouma Oluga at a past press briefing. [Photo/nation.co.ke]

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The Kenya Medical Practitioners , Pharmacists and Dentist Union( KMPDU) has raised a red flag over what it has said that it is ‘discrimination’ against local qualified practitioners by select hospitals in favour of foreign expatriates.

In an interview with The Daily Nation, KMPDU Secretary General Ouma Oluga said that private hospitals, NGOs and mission hospitals are the ones really going against the norm by employing foreigners at the expense of more or equally qualified local medics.

“The Union is concerned that there is an increasing trend where some select facilities, especially mission and foreign based private facilities employ foreign medics when there are enough Kenyan medical practitioners who are qualified and skilled to take up such employment skills,” Oluga said.

In contrast to the information given by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Board (KMPPD) that Kenya has only 392 foreign doctors allowed to operate in Kenya in 125 facilities across the country, Oluga said that the number is above 2000.

“The actual number of these foreign doctors could be actually up to 2,400 working in various hospitals across the country,” Oluga added.

The KMPPD said that the foreign doctors majorly work at mission and teaching hospitals where the medics work on voluntary and non-competitive basis.