Doctors in Kiambu County have declared their unwavering support for the nationwide medics’ strike called by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) on December 22, 2024. The healthcare professionals are protesting delayed salaries, heavy workloads, and the government’s disregard for collective bargaining agreements.
During a visit to Kiambu Level V Hospital on Wednesday, KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah highlighted the mounting frustration and anger among doctors at the facility. The physicians are grappling with severe salary delays, unlawful removals from payrolls, a lack of promotions, and the government’s failure to pay interns as stipulated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
“The doctors expressed their deep frustrations over delayed salaries – some unpaid for up to nine months – unlawful removal from payrolls, lack of promotions, and increased workloads caused by the county government’s refusal to recruit more healthcare workers,” Dr. Atellah stated.
Kiambu County has been singled out as one of the most hostile employers, consistently failing to honor the 2017 Return to Work Formula (RTWF) and the CBA. The doctors have also raised concerns about the government’s failure to pay interns in compliance with the CBA, creating a hostile work environment.
In response to these ongoing injustices, the KMPDU boss emphasized the doctors’ readiness to take industrial action. “Despite these glaring injustices, the doctors reaffirmed their unity and readiness to participate in the nationwide strike set for 22/12/2024. They called for urgent reforms to protect the profession, uphold the RTWF and CBA, and ensure payment of debts owed to doctors,” he said.
Dr. Atellah also decried the government’s contempt for court orders, particularly the judgment delivered on October 26, 2024, which validated the CBA on the remuneration package for medical interns. “The doctor intern wages have been reduced by 70%, a situation unforeseen in workers history in this country and the world over,” he stated.
The KMPDU’s 10th Special Delegate Sitting on November 30, 2024, ratified the decision for industrial action in response to these unfulfilled promises and impunity by both the national and county governments.
