Medics threaten strike over unpaid allowances by the Health Ministry » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 10 -The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists’ Union (KMPDU) says it members will down their tools to protest the delay by the Ministry of Health to settle outstanding allowances owed to interns and doctors.

KMPDU Secretary-General Davji Atellah says more than 300 interns have not been posted and more than 200 have not been paid for the last 6 months after the Ministry of Health claimed it lacks the budget.

Union leaders vowed to hold demos to push for their pay should the situation remain the same.

“In the beginning of the month of May, we will be having industrial demonstrations from our offices to the Ministry of Health demanding for the release of those funds and ideally we are also, we are calling on the Council of Governors to start together with the Unions to demand the increase of funds to the counties,” he said.

The medics expressed their disappointment with the proposal to allocate 4 percent of the National Budget to the health care sector which they say is a decline from the 6 percent allocated last year.

Dr. Atellah appealed to the Council of Governors to join them to demand for an increase of funds for the counties to avoid a situation where doctors and nurses are not employed.

Union Chairman Dr. Abi Mwachi backed Atellah in calling on the government to take the healthcare of its citizens seriously.

“We are worried at the cavalier and lackluster approach that the government is still employing while they are employing those approaches what they fail to employ are our doctors, while the patient-doctor ratio is very very disheartening,” Dr. Mwachi stated.

Atellah added: “There is a need for the country to factor in and see the need to improve healthcare. This is the call that we as the Union are looking at so that it actually anchors the need for the ordinary citizen.”