Healthn Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu has confirmed that 500 doctors to be hired from Tanzania will arrive in the country soon.
According to Mailu, the medics would be given two-to-three year contracts, and would be posted to national, county and faith-based hospitals.
Speaking during an impromptu visit to the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Dr Mailu said the recruitment of the 500 doctors was within the law.
He further dismissed claims by the doctors union that there are 1,400 jobless Kenyan doctors, saying they are unemployed “by choice”.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board says, currently, the doctor to patient ratio stands at 1 to 5,033 Kenyans, this is nearly nine times more than what is recommended by the World Health Organisation of one doctor to 600 patients.