Kenyan doctors to go on strike in January 2023

KMPDU Secretary-General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah during a media briefing on the state of health facilities and workforce in the Country on October 15, 2022. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) says doctors across the country will go on strike from January 6, 2023, if the government fails to fulfil agreements in a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) covering the 2017-2021 period.

KMPDU Secretary-General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah says the intent of notice expires on December 28, 2022, after which a strike notice will be issued.

"This means I need to give a strike notice on the 29th [December 2022], which I will do in seven days or so if we don't get a meaningful direction on this matter," Davji told journalists.

Currently, the union says it will continue to engage all stakeholders involved in the signing of the CBA.

"As we start the new year, around the 5th, or 6th of January 2023, all the doctors in the country will be on strike and we don't threaten, we will proceed on strike because we have court judgments that support this," Davji added.

Basic salary adjustments, creation of call rooms, posting of medical interns, employment of more doctors and provision of working tools are among the unmet grievances highlighted by KMPDU.

"We have many dysfunctional public hospitals in this country because the healthcare workers are not there. When you go to public hospitals, you won't get drugs, or services because the counties cannot employ because there are no funds," said Davji.

Davji further says that the country is losing some of the best doctors, who are seeking employment overseas, due to the frustration that they have to endure in County Referral Hospitals.

"We need to have consultants and doctors employed and others promoted to the right job groups. This has not happened five years down the line.

"We are losing many of the consultants in this country to other countries and that is because of the frustrations they are experiencing in the county referral hospitals," said the KMPDU Secretary General.