Medics cock a snook at state’s bid to end hospital strike

DOCTORS working in Kenyan staterun hospitals yesterday rejected a government offer aimed at ending a three-week long strike, as a court set a deadline for the dispute to be resolved.

About 7 000 members of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) staged the walkout in mid-March to demand improved pay and better working conditions.

The labour court in Nairobi suspended the strike last month and on Wednesday ordered that negotiations to end the stalemate be completed in 14 days, local media reported.

The decision came a day after the government said it would meet some of the medics’ demands, including paying arrears and hiring trainee doctors on permanent contracts.

But the union voiced “deep dissatisfaction” with the offer.

“The negotiations failed. We have seen threats, intimidations and victimisation, but the strike is fully on,” KMPDU secretary general Davji Atellah said yesterday.

“The government walked out of the negotiations, saying they would not engage unless we called off strike.”

KMPDU said the proposed offer did not have legally binding commitments and was “a clear sign of the government’s decision to dishonour its promises”. It called on interns – who make up about 30% of doctors according to the union – not to collect their contract letters from the government.

The strike, which clinical officers joined on Monday, has caused disruption in the nation’s public hospitals.

Poor salaries and working conditions have led to an exodus of Kenyan medics to other African countries and further afield, with the local health sector beset by widespread and disruptive industrial action.