Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH) is seeking to enlist the services of foreign doctors to help avert a looming medical disaster at the 650-bed facility. 

According to Prof. Olive Mugenda, Chairperson of the KUTRRH Board, the strike has stranded scores of patients, including cancer patients who are about to begin chemotherapy. 

"Some people have begun chemotherapy and are at home and for some need these treatments urgently," Prof.Mugenda told journalists on Tuesday. 

"After consultation with the board, we thought it wise--and we have permission from the government to hire some foreign doctors to help us,"

So far, the facility has enlisted the services of four oncologists from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Tanzania, allowing some critical services to resume. 

According to Prof. Mugenda, with the new hires, the facility was able to conduct approximately 40 chemotherapy sessions on Monday.

"They are clinical oncologists from East Africa, they are trained and are already doing a good job," She added. 

Regarding the future of the hospital's striking doctors, Prof Mugenda stated that the majority of them had received dismissal or suspension letters. 

She stated that KUTRRH, which has a capacity of 250 doctors, was only operating with 82 due to other employees going on strike. 

"We do not know if the striking doctors will be back, those who stopped working we served them with letters of dismissal and some have suspension letters," she added. 

"The ones we hired will remain even if the others come back, and if they do come back, those with suspension letters will need to face a disciplinary committee,"