Striking doctors have said they will lobby their colleagues in private hospitals to join the strike on Tuesday next week.
They said they will force state officials to accede to their demands.
The doctors are demanding the posting of 1,210 interns at a monthly pay of Sh212,000. They are demanding also enhanced higher salaries for employed doctors, enhanced medical insurance cover for themselves and their families and full pay for doctors who are studying for masters degrees or fellowships.
They said they will ignore orders by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei to call off their strike before the government can engage them in any talks.
The Labour and Employment Court declared the strike illegal on March 13 and ordered what is now called the Whole of the Nation negotiations.
Koskei is the chairperson of the court-mandated Whole of the Nation negotiations.
Simon Kigondu, president of the Kenya Medical Association, a doctors lobby, said, “They [government officials] don’t seek services in public hospitals and so they’re not affected by the current strike. As long as they are not affected, this strike will not be resolved.”
He spoke at a meeting called by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Dentists and Pharmacists Union (KMPDU) at the KMA offices in Nairobi.
“Because the political class are not being affected, in the next seven days we will mobilise the private sector to withdraw their services. From Tuesday, services in the private sector will be withdrawn,” Kigondu said.
During the 2017 strike, striking doctors made a similar move that appeared to be successful. However, those in private hospitals went on strike only one day a week.
Yesterday, KMPDU deputy secretary general Dennis Miskellah said they will not call off the strike as ordered by Koskei.
“We have been willing to meet with them. There’s no need to put conditions. Already the government is on the wrong,” he said.
“The government has been disobeying court orders. We note the failure on the implementation of 2017 CBA. The agreement is legally binding and it demands full implementation.”
In a letter dated April 9 and directed to KMPDU secretary general Davji Atellah, Koskei had said the Whole of the Nation committee shall convene within 24 hours should doctors call off their strike.
“The committee shall convene within 24 hours of KMPDU suspension of the strike in full compliance with order of the principal judge of the Employment and Labour Relations Court of Kenya,” Koskei said.
The committee comprises four representatives from KMPDU, seven from the Council of Governors, one from the Ministry of Public Service, three from the Ministry of Health and one from the National Treasury.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced it had emailed posting letters to the 1,210 medical, dental and pharmacy interns and asked them to report to internship centres on Monday next week.
This delayed posting was the main reason doctors went on strike last month.
“Their posting has been completed and offer of internship placement letters sent to respective emails. The interns are expected to report to their respective internship centres as indicated against their names below by April 15,” Public Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni said.
The interns comprise 72 dentists, 849 medical officers and 289 pharmacists.
Miskellah said the interns will be unable to train as long as the strike is on. He also faulted the government’s decision to pay them a monthly Sh70,000 stipend instead of the Sh212,000 past medical interns got.
The government pays non-medical interns about Sh30,000 every month.
“Interns can work and make diagnosis but they need to have supervision, so that at the end of the training someone will sign off. The letters also do not have the correct terms that the interns are being posted to work in Job Group L to work for one year,” he said.
Last week on Tuesday, Koskei said the government had secured Sh2.4 billion to facilitate the immediate deployment and posting of the 2023-24 cohort of medical and dental student interns.
