Doctors strike set to continue as Dialogue fails

Negotiations between the Kenyan Doctors, Pharmacists and Dentists (KMPDU) and officials from the Health and Labor Department for the return of the labor package broke down on Tuesday.

This is because the doctors accused the government of dealing with the matter indiscriminately and sending lawyers instead of the ministry officials as they agreed. The collapse means that the strike is now in its seventh day and will worsen with the arrival of another eight groups starting next week.

The Secretary General of the KMPDU Davji Atellah led the leaders of other organizations to organize an exodus from the meeting, which now means that the health crisis in the country may get worse, while the leaders of the health institutions have already been affected.

“We should meet the chief secretaries of the Ministry of Health and Labor to resolve our problems, but what we see is lawyers sending us as if we are in court,” Dr Atellah said.

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The KMPDU is protesting against the alleged 91% reduction in the salaries of junior doctors, as revealed in a letter to Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha from the Chairman of the Salary and Remuneration Commission (SRC) ), Lyn Mengich, dated March 13, 2024.

“They are making the situation worse by taking away the salaries of medical workers. This is a violation of the 2017 CBA agreement. We were not invited to the discussion, but we were the main participants. We asked him,” added Dr Atellah.

The health crisis in the country is likely to worsen as eight more unions, including the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), have announced that they will officially join their colleagues KMPDU next week.

KUCO President Peter Wachira said: “We said enough is enough, this government is not paying much attention to our grievances”.

The group spoke shortly after submitting their report to the Health Committee of the National Assembly in Parliament.

This is as the management of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital has suspended the admission of patients stating that the facility will only provide health care services and attend to patients in an intensive manner due to the ongoing work of doctors. .