Government releases Sh965 million for medical interns' salary

Health CS Deborah Barasa flanked by Director General of Health Patrick Amoth, KEMSA Board Chairperson Irungu Nyakera and other health officials during a press briefing on Mpox outbreak in the country. [File, Standard]

Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa has said the government has disbursed Sh965 million to pay medical interns four months salary arrears.

This comes days after the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Pharmacists and Dentists' Union (KMPDU) threatened to down tools over unpaid salaries.

In an exclusive interview on KTN Tuesday evening, Dr Barasa said stakeholders in the health service were working to come up with a lasting solution to solve the health workers' strike.

She is hopeful the ongoing efforts will avert the strike, scheduled to start on December 23.

"For the interns, yes the money should be hitting their accounts soon. For the four months. Now, what we are doing is negotiating to see if we will have the top up of the rest of the money, and I believe we will come up with a solution for interns, okay, and then we need to come up with a sustainable solution so that we don't have routine stress," the CS explained.

"These are essential services, and since they're essential services, we cannot have, you know, routine strikes within the Ministry of Health, especially for for the human the healthcare workers. So we are in negotiating. We are engaging to see what are the sustainable solutions," she added.

The CS urged the intern doctors to maximise on the one year internship to learn more and craft their career paths.

"My advice to the interns is that even as the negotiations continue, use the days for your mentorship, supporting supervision, before receiving your license as a medical practition. And so it is a time for you to engage and learn more. Okay, even as you think about your career growth or moving forward to become a licensed medical practitioner, and so it's important that they view this as a bigger picture,"

A month ago, KMPDU threatened to down their tools once again, after raising issues on the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah warned that if the government does increase the medical interns salariea from Sh47,000 to Sh70,000 they will down tools.