State house officials will meet with doctors and others in the health sector today to find a permanent solution to the perennial doctors crisis.
This was revealed in court yesterday in a lawsuit filed by the Kenyatta National Hospital against a group of doctors, demanding that they stop their work which started last week. Justice Byram Ongaya of the Labor and Industrial Relations Court in Nairobi last week ordered the union to negotiate and agree that the minimum wage must be maintained during the working hours so that patients do not suffer.
The court also appointed a conciliation committee to resolve grievances related to doctors’ service status as last week’s discussion was not successful.
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When the group returned to court on Wednesday, Kenyatta National Hospital told the court that not all members were present at the meeting that was held on Tuesday and that another meeting was scheduled for Thursday. The state attorney, Oscar Eredi, said the head of civil service, Felix Koskei, invited all parties involved in the talks to a meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Center to resolve any outstanding issues.
The joint committee meeting includes the secretaries of Health, Labor and National Treasury, as well as the Civil Service Commission, Salary and Remuneration Commission, Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), all regional governments and national hospitals.
“The Head of Public Service has invited all parties and scheduled the meeting on Thursday at 4.45 pm at the KICC to discuss all issues in the doctors strike notice. We are asking for more time to engage,” Eredi told the court
He said that Koskei, in his invitation, promised to discuss all the long-standing disputes in the health sector to find a lasting solution.
According to the state attorney, the government honored the doctors’ collective agreement in the first place and negotiations are continuing on the next collective agreement from 2021 to 2025.
“The state has already given its counter-proposals and parties are engaging,” Eredi said.
Lawyer Edgar Washika, who represents the doctors’ union, said Tuesday’s meeting did not go well as ordered by the court. He said that the doctors are ready to attend the meeting called by the head of civil service.
“We shall attend both meetings for tomorrow,” he said.
Justice Ongaya ordered that the case be referred to April 3 for a report on the progress of the case.
The doctors want government to immediately transfer the health workers and fix the salaries of the doctors according to the 2017 collective agreement.
“These are the minimum. These are the things that should be implemented,” KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah said last week.
The union wants the interns to be assigned direct mail and information to ensure they are properly paid.
The ministry has said in response to previous doctors that the work and payment of the interns will require Ksh4.9 billion, an amount that ministerial secretary Susan Nakhumicha said her information does not have.
