Kenyan Doctors Aiding ISIS Recruitment Through Their Private Clinics

By Nicholas Olambo & Kenya West

Every child growing up wants to be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer. These professions have been for a long time been regarded as lucrative, but medicine and law have turned into conmen’s den. Doctors despite being well paid are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Coercing with pharmaceutical companies, giving prescriptions of drugs not stocked in their respective hospitals and even writing medical reports to questionable individuals just to make quick bucks unlawfully. Med reps from leading pharmaceutical companies to throng doctor’s plaza to market their products alongside people (mostly of Somalia origin) lining to buy medical reports.

Early this year Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPPDU) through its Secretary General Oluga Ouma raised a red flag over doctors referring their patients to India despite treatments being available locally.

In what seems like a cartel made of 15 companies belonging to influential politicians, doctors and even the patients, Kenya is said to be losing 10 billion shillings which can be used to improve infrastructures in medical facilities across the country.

Lobby claimed that over 880 doctors in public and private practice risk losing their licenses if investigations confirm that they intentionally misadvise patients to seek treatment abroad in exchange for kickbacks.
The findings of the investigations have never been made public, and the rogue doctors are still on, fleecing patients millions of their shillings and draining the country’s hard currency reserves.

Busted fake doctor Mugo Wairimu

Doctors are reported to pocket up to Shs. 200,000 for every referral; mainly of kidney, cancer and cosmetic. Health Principal Secretary Dr Nicholas Muraguri noted that Kenyatta National Hospital for instance conducts at least 30 kidney transplants every month and some of Kenya’s private hospitals have the capacity to carry out heart transplants. Meaning that these cases can be treated locally. Only very delicate conditions that local experts can not treat should warrant overseas care.

This fight is made complicated by the fact that top government officials ignore the official policy in favour of local healthcare, opting instead for treatment in Europe and US even for a slight cough. Doctors don’t end their illegal trade of unwarranted medical referrals here; Kenya Insights can authoritatively report that Kenyan doctors provide dubious medical reasons to many peoples of Somali origin seeking travel to Europe or the United States.

It’s no secret that terror activities conducted by ‘Islamic groups’ have proven bigger threats to every nation globally. Groups such as Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, ISIS, Al Qaeda and many more hide behind unsuspicious events to carry out their attacks. Kenya and East Africa, for instance, has suffered numerous attacks due its porous borders, corrupt immigration officials and now doctors are the new entrants into the list.

ISIS militia group

Kenya is struggling in its fight to end terrorism and has for a long time asked for support from other countries to help in the support by sharing intelligence and collaborative reaction. Rogue doctors who are working to make Kenya a terror hub belong nowhere but jail. Foreigners in perfect health without genuine reasons buy medical reports at 2000 dollars.

Al Shabaab is known to have changed its fighting tactic from conventional to asymmetric, a hit and run method that can be best carried out when unethical practices such as these are not controlled.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, a toothless bulldog with an incredible bark, is doing its best, sleeping with its head buried deep in the sands. Scandals touching on the ‘big fish’ are certified to go scot free.

Terrorism is the greatest threat Kenya is facing at the moment, and Kenya has been accused of sitting on intelligence and in the process suffering severe terror attacks that have had the negative impact on the economy. One of the biggest foreign exchange earners, tourism, is down on its knees and struggling to pick up. Will the country sit back and watch rent seeking doctors aid the movement of questionable characters or crack the whip on the rogue professionals?

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