The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has strongly opposed reported negotiations between the Government of Kenya and the United States over the establishment of an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility at Laikipia Air Base.
In a hard-hitting statement issued on Thursday, KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Bhimji Atella accused the government of endangering Kenya’s national biosecurity by allegedly agreeing to host exposed or infected U.S. citizens amid the ongoing Bundibugyo strain Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
The union termed the alleged arrangement “hypocritical” and “disgusting,” arguing that Kenya risks being turned into a “containment colony” for a deadly disease it did not create.
“As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid,” said Dr. Atella.
KMPDU questioned why Kenya had allegedly been selected for the facility while countries neighboring the Ebola outbreak epicenter had not been considered.
“If the United States believes the 12-hour medevac flight back to Washington is too dangerous for its citizens, by what logic is it safe to fly infected or exposed individuals into Kenyan airspace and drop them in Laikipia?” the union posed.
The doctors’ union demanded immediate transparency from Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the publication of any bilateral agreements related to the proposed facility.
KMPDU also criticized the government for allegedly prioritizing a foreign-funded quarantine facility while Kenya’s own healthcare system continues to face severe shortages of medicines, diagnostic reagents, intensive care infrastructure, and medical personnel.
“Our public hospitals are structurally crippled. We lack basic diagnostic reagents, essential medicines, and functional intensive care infrastructure,” the statement read.
The union warned that Kenya should not be “importing” an international health crisis while local public hospitals remain underfunded and overstretched.
At the same time, KMPDU raised concerns over reports that the proposed facility could be staffed by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps instead of Kenyan healthcare workers.
The union insisted that any such project must prioritize the permanent employment of thousands of unemployed Kenyan doctors and nurses, warning against what it described as an “apartheid healthcare model.”
“We will not tolerate an arrangement where Kenyan doctors are sidelined as second-class observers or used as low-cost, high-risk auxiliary labor,” Atella said.
KMPDU further demanded that Kenyan healthcare workers involved in such a facility be offered permanent employment terms, hazardous duty allowances, and comprehensive medical cover.
The union has now issued the government with a 48-hour ultimatum to make the alleged negotiations public, warning that it could mobilize nationwide industrial action if the government proceeds without addressing concerns raised by healthcare workers.
“Kenya is a sovereign republic, not a geopolitical isolation ward,” the statement added
