Doctors’ salary increment agreement with county governments

Doctors have finally signed a salary increment agreement with the 47 county governments.

The four-year Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) signed before the Employment and Labour Relations Court ended a months’ long impasse between the counties and the medics.

The deal will see the highest paid doctor, a senior deputy director either in medical, dental or pharmaceutical services, take home a maximum Sh282,000 basic salary plus Sh230,000 as allowances.

The lowest paid are medical, dental officers and pharmacists who will earn a maximum of Sh68,000 as basic salary. They will, however, pocket Sh155,000 in allowances.

The minimum basic pay for the lowest paid doctor will be Sh54,000 while the highest paid doctor’s minimum bracket will be Sh221,000.

The pay will be back dated to July 1 this year.

All doctors will earn between Sh72,000 and Sh80,000 whenever they are called for emergencies and a uniform Sh20,000 as risk allowances.

The lowest paid doctor will take home Sh8,000 in monthly commuter allowance while the highest will be paid Sh20,000.

For non-practice allowance, the CBA dictates that the lowest paid doctor earns Sh18,000 while the highest paid takes home Sh40,000.

Leave allowance will be paid once a year at Sh6,000 for the lowest grade  and Sh10,000 for the highest.

Doctors will also be entitled to a 90-day sick leave every year and a half salary beyond these.

Female doctors are entitled to a three-month maternity leave while their male counterpart are entitled to two weeks paternity leave.

 House mortgage

A doctor will be required to retire at 60 years but can decide to retire at 50 upon request.  Upon retirement they will receive a service token and pension.

The 47 county bosses also agreed that doctors will be entitled to a house mortgage and a car loan which will be facilitated by the counties.

For house allowances, those working in Nairobi will earn Sh28,000 for the lowest paid doctor and Sh80,000 for the highest paid.

In Kisumu, Mombasa, Thika, Nyeri, Malindi and Kitale, doctors will earn between Sh22,000 and Sh70,000 in house allowances.

Doctors in other regions will be paid Sh16,500 for the lowest paid and Sh60,000 for the highest.

Doctors working in hardship areas will earn Sh40,000 as extraneous allowance, those posted in rural areas will be paid Sh35,000 while those in urban areas will earn an extra Sh30,000.

Intern doctors will also be given similar treatment with the lowest paid doctor, taking home more than Sh200,000 in salary and allowances.

Doctors who want to advance their studies will continue receiving their basic salary, house allowance and maintenance allowance. A doctor will only work for 40 hours a week, any extra hours worked will be compensated.

Each hospital is expected to have a doctor’s room set up within two years.