Kenya’s healthcare system remains under strain as the nationwide doctors’ strike enters its second month.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and the government continue to lock horns over salary disputes with neither side willing to budge on their core demands. At the heart of the conflict lies the issue of intern doctors’ salaries. The KMPDU insists on honoring the 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which stipulates a monthly salary of Sh206,000 for interns. However, the government, citing a severe economic crisis, maintains it cannot afford such a wage increase. Head of Public Service Felix Koskei has urged doctors to accept the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s (SRC) offer of Sh70,000 while recognising the nation’s financial constraints.
However, the union remains unconvinced. Former KMPDU secretary general Ouma Oluga points out that even when intern doctors received a higher salary in the past (Sh78,000 in 2011), protests erupted. The union’s very formation in 2011 stemmed from a desire to prevent such situations. Oluga emphasizes the need for the government to uphold the 2017 agreement. The strike has reached an impasse, with both sides refusing to compromise. The government’s threats to replace striking doctors and the doctors’ defiance have further escalated tensions.
To prevent the crisis from spiraling further, the Ministry of Health requested and received a 14-day extension for negotiations from Justice Byrum Ongaya. This offers a glimmer of hope for a resolution. The responsibility now falls on both parties to utilize this period productively. The doctors continue to demand full implementation of the 2017 CBA, while rejecting the government’s recent offer of Sh2.4 billion intended for deploying newly graduated interns. The Head of Public Service has tied this deployment to the suspension of the strike. The ongoing strike by doctors in Kisumu County has taken a new turn with Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o issuing a stern warning that the striking medical professionals will not be compensated for the days they have not reported to work.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Governor addressed the grievances raised by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), asserting that a comprehensive review has revealed that the county has satisfactorily addressed the majority of the issues outlined in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). According to Nyong’o’s statement, the county has diligently addressed several key concerns including the timely recruitment of doctors, ensuring prompt salary payments, providing comprehensive medical coverage for healthcare workers, facilitating access to mortgages and loans, granting allowances for doctors to pursue further studies, and implementing a structured promotion framework for healthcare professionals.
Kenyans leaders are in those…
Kenyans leaders are in those positions to be served, not to serve. For interns to be posted, the KMPDU board has to meet and do some approvals. In 2021, the board met 9 months after graduation. Complete waste of young doctors precious time. The VCs, CSs, and KMPDU need to come up with a process that takes the young graduates from the classroom to the internship. I hear the process is there, but nobody takes it seriously. So bad, those young doctors are in hands of adults that don’t care.
YES voters should explain…
YES voters should explain why they preferred prostitutes,expensive counties,senate,47 county assemblies and additional thieves/murderers to health workers,teachers and food.You voted YES to have those expensive un-necessary entities and employees in a country whose only resources are corruption and loans to loot yet health workers and teachers were still striking for money.How can you pay a prostitute a minimum of 500,000 but can’t afford shs 200,000 for a doctor?TOTAL RUBBISH.
Ruto must go!
That Kalejinga…
Ruto must go!
That Kalejinga is cursed.
Please cut elected officials…
Please cut elected officials salaries by half. That would be a great start.
This interns are being too…
This interns are being too greedy.The government cannot afford 206000 per month that is close to quarter million per month .Let them go to the gulf. There is fair wages and then there is pure greed.Kenyans are already overburdened with taxes.For them to get paid such money MPIGS taking home over 1 million would have to be fired or take a pay cut and that is not going to happen.Whiever drafted such an agreement promising them Canaan needs to be fired right now poor Kenyans who cannot afford private care are the ones suffering
A medical doctor ought to be…
A medical doctor ought to be paid far much better than a damn MP who does nothing special except steal from the people. Why not cut in half the salaries of those elected yahoos and give the money to the medical staff?