Doctors issue 21-day strike notice

Pray that you don’t get sick during the Christmas season, because chances are there won’t be a doctor to treat you if you seek medical attention.

The doctors’ union, KMPDU, has issued a 21-day strike notice, with general secretary Davji Atellah saying “tThe national doctors’ strike is scheduled to begin on December 22, 2024 at 11:59:59 p.m. »

In a statement on his X feed, Atellah said the strike was called to push the government to deliver on its promises contained in the Return to Work Formula (RTWF), including paying trainee doctors and respecting the collective agreement from 2017.

The last time doctors went on strike, they paralyzed operations in all public health facilities for 56 days, causing untold suffering to patients.

The doctors ended the jobs boycott on May 8 after days of marathon negotiations led by the Industrial Relations Court, the Ministry of Labor and civil service chief Felix Kosgey through a whole-of-government approach.

Speaking at a press conference on November 27, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists (KMPDU) secretary general Davji Atellah said the government had seven months to implement the salary scales agreed under the deal. RTWF but he had not succeeded.

He said the new strike would be comprehensive and extend as far as possible until all their demands were met.

This time Atellah excluded any form of dialogue.

“We say without fear of contradiction that when we call for a strike, no one should come and sell us the aspect of goodwill or the aspect of negotiation, because seven months is far too long for someone to one continues to make promises,” he said. said.

“It will be time to implement the agreements that have been signed and adopted in the form of court decisions. »

During the press conference, Atellah said the strike would be officially declared on November 30 and at that time the paralysis of health facilities would be decreed from December 1.

“We will strike in December because the government does not care about Kenyans. They care a lot about deductions and taxes but not about service delivery.”

Atellah said the announcement would be made during the conference of their national delegates at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, with sole objective of triggering a national strike.

“We know that the situation will be sad this time, but the government is fully responsible because it does not respect the agreements and does not respect the court decisions,” Atellah said.

Doctors said that due to the government’s failure to pay in-house doctors, two of them had resorted to suicide so far this year while four others were rescued and taken to hospital while they were about to die.

The first to die was Dr Desiree Moraa on September 24. She was stationed at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital.

The second was a pharmacist who died on November 26. He worked at Thika Level 5 Hospital.

Financial concerns were cited as a key motivator in both cases.

“We are saddened by the two lives we lost; these are children of people, these are people who are dedicated to serving Kenyans. And because of the actions of the government, they have erratically decided to change what existed from the beginning for seven years without any good will or good intention to resolve the problem,” Atellah said.