From protest to policy: A stand for dignity and change

Medical Services PS Ouma Oluga speaks during the handing over of the KNH CEO position at the hospital's premises on August 19, 2025. [Juliet Omelo, Standard]

In December 2016, doctors in Kenya took an extraordinary stand. As Secretary General of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), I joined thousands of colleagues on the picket lines. We were exhausted physically from grueling hours and emotionally from watching patients suffer in a broken system.

Public hospitals had become places of pain. Vital machines broke down constantly. Wards were overcrowded, and patients often lay on the floor for lack of beds. We had one demand: implement the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). It promised not just fairer salaries, but stronger hospitals, more staff, and reliable supplies of essential medicines. For us, it was never just about paychecks; it was about restoring dignity to healthcare.