Doctors across the country on Monday morning joined nurses and clinical officers in a nationwide strike, after the grievances they raised failed to be addressed. Initially, doctors had issued a strike notice, which was set to expire on 6th December 2020, but they suspended it, as nurses proceeded with theirs, in order to give room for talks.
On Saturday 19th December, the doctors union issued another strike notice, set to expire on Sunday midnight. The National Assembly, the Senate and the doctors union have, however, failed to find an agreement, with the strike set to worsen the health care situation in the country in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nurses strike has entered its third week, with services at public hospitals paralyzed.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) had outlined the issues they wanted resolved. They included provision of a comprehensive medical cover as provided for by NHIF for all doctor, employment of at least 2,000 doctors, including pharmacists and dentists, on permanent and pensionable terms, payment of all allowances to all doctors working under the Health Ministry, enhancement of the risk allowance.
Payment of all applicable allowances to doctors working under the university health services unit and academic staff, provision of adequate and standard personal protective equipment in all healthcare facilities, setting up a constitutional Health Services Commission among others.
