Doctors have announced a 21-day nationwide strike through the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
KMPDU Secretary General Dr Davji Atellah has indicated that the nationwide strike will begin on December 22.
Further, he has noted that all doctors will down their tools for 21 days until their demands to the government are met.
“We have issued a 21-day strike notice. The nationwide doctor’s strike is to commence on 22nd December 2024 at 23:59:59,” stated Atellah.
Also Read: Kenyans Warned of Unregistered Doctors and Health Facilities
Council of Governors’ Message to Doctors
On Thursday, November 21, the Council of Governors (COG) Chair Ahmed Abdullahi announced that they were unable to meet the demands of the doctors.
According to him, the Ksh2 billion increase in allocation to counties was too little and would affect the operations of counties.
He added that doctors will be among those who will bear the brunt of the paltry increase, as the money cannot meet their demands in the Collective Bargaining Formula (CBA).
“We will also struggle to meet our end of the bargain to doctors because for the doctors the agreement was the National government covers their part of the arrears of the impact of the CBA which was not complied with,
“And then it was assumed that the new division of revenue will give counties additional money to meet the CBA requirements going forward,” said the COG chair.
Also Read: Kenyans Warned of Unregistered Doctors and Health Facilities
Demands from KMPDU
KMPDU demanded that intern doctors be paid as per the signed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The union clarified that the only payment in dispute is the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) circular that contravenes the KMPDU CBA.
Additionally, the union threatened that they would down their tools if the Ministry of Health (MoH) refused to move from their proposed pay of Ksh47,000 to Ksh70,000 for intern doctors as per the CBA agreement.
The union said they have had several meetings with the MoH that ended in a deadlock on October 31, 2024.
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