By Ally Jamah
Health services in public hospitals are set to worsen after consultants announced they were set to join doctors in their national strike that enters its sixth day today.
The consultants have been holding meetings since last Thursday when doctors downed their tools.
In a press conference on Monday in Nairobi, a section of consultants said they would soon join their colleagues in the streets to further paralyse operations in public hospitals.
Led by Kenya Medical Association (KMA) chair Dr Elly Nyaim, the consultants said the Government had shown indifference in resolving issues raised by doctors and have been forced to join the strike to speed up resolution of the matter.
They spoke after a day-long consultative meeting with leaders of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPPDU) in Nairobi on Monday .
“We are stating in no uncertain terms that the consultants working in public hospitals are part of this strike and continue to support it until the earlier conditions are met,” said KMPPDU secretary general Were Onyino.
Prime witnesses
He added: “They (consultants) have been the primary witnesses of the dilapidated state of our health infrastructure and for many years have laboured under the most difficult circumstances.”
Onyino hinted that KMPPDU may take legal action against some officials in the Ministry of Medical Services, including Kenyatta National Hospital CEO Richard Lesiyampe, and a section of provincial medical superintendents, for allegedly intimidating members of the union.
Among their demands is for the State to comply with last year’s agreement to pay doctors undergoing specialist training (registrars) Sh92,000 per month and amend the Constitution to have a Health Services Commission.
