Health Crisis Loom In Nairobi As Doctors Announce Strike

On 7^th September, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) announced that its members will embark on a strike from Tuesday, September 12^th,2023

According to the letter sent to  Kilimani OCPD, the union’s secretary general, Davji Bhimji, noted that the demonstration will kick off at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) at 10:00  p.m. The letter was to request the National Police Service to provide security during the demonstration.

The procession will make a stop at the Ministry of Health (MoH) offices and end at the Council of Governors (COG) headquarters along Chiromo Road. This move comes as a result of growing frustrations within the medical community regarding several long-standing issues that have yet to be adequately addressed by the relevant authorities.

“This is to notify you that doctors (consultants, medical practitioners, pharmacists, dentists, registrars, interns, and medical students) in Kenya will be holding a peaceful procession on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, at 10:00  a.m. to deliver a petition on the state of Healthcare in Kenya,” read the statement in part.

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“There are unprecedented shortages of doctors and healthcare workers amidst unemployment and underemployment crisis in both public and private hospitals.”

The doctors’ decision to strike stems from a myriad of concerns that have plagued the healthcare sector in Kilimani for quite some time. The strike comes at a time when several medical practitioners are at loggerheads with county governments over poor remuneration and working conditions.

In July,  doctors and other healthcare workers in Busia County issued a joint strike notice through their umbrella bodies; the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), as well as the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO).

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Taking to the streets, the essential service providers lamented, among other things, delayed promotions, lack of sufficient equipment, poor working conditions, as well as salary arrears.

They marched to the office of Busia Governor Paul Otuoma as well as that of the Public Service Commission (PSC) where they presented their grievances.

The union now says despite the shortage of doctors, there lie more than 4,000 trained doctors who are yet to be absorbed. According to the union, it takes at least seven years to train a medical doctor, at a cost of between Sh4 million and Sh5 million.

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