Tanzania to import NK doctors due to manpower shortage

A to-be-opened Tanzanian general hospital will reportedly employ dozens of North Korean doctors due to the lack of such manpower in the African nation, a US broadcaster reported Tuesday.

The branch school of Kampala International University in Dar es Salaam is scheduled to open the hospital with 1,000 beds in June, Radio Free Asia said, citing a local source. 

The hospital plans to scout doctors from foreign nations, including the North, Pakistan and Cuba, to make up for the shortage of local doctors, the broadcaster said.

The inside of a media center in Serengeti, Tanzania (Yonhap)

More than 30 physicians, surgeons, pediatricians and radiologists are to be imported from the North alone, the broadcaster said. 

Concerns are high among local residents on the news, as the Tanzanian authorities shut down four North Korean hospitals for various illegal activities last year, the broadcaster said. 

A North Korean dentist, who had conducted illegal medical practices without a permit, was uncovered in Kuwait in September, it added. (Yonhap)