Doctors stage protests in Nairobi over pay cuts for interns

Healthcare workers in Nairobi took to the streets on Tuesday in a bold protest, demanding fair treatment and job security.

Led by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), the doctors marched to the Social Health Authority (SHA) headquarters, the Ministry of Health and Parliament, delivering a petition warning of a nationwide strike if intern salaries were cut.

Patriotic songs echoed through the air as doctors, led by KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah, voiced their anger over what they described as a government scheme to slash the salaries of medical interns from more than Ksh.200,000 to Ksh.70,000.

"There was a plot to change the 2017 CBA to cut the salaries of intern doctors, under the claim that USAID had reduced funding. We rejected this,” Atellah said.

"We refused to accept changes to the 2017 CBA when intern doctors were hired in July. Even we, the employed doctors, did not accept these cuts,” said Atellah.

Beyond their fight for fair wages, the union submitted complaints at SHA's headquarters, highlighting the failure of the health insurance scheme and the hardships doctors endured when seeking treatment.

They claimed SHA had failed to settle medical bills, resulting in some doctors being detained in hospitals.

"If they reduced our salaries or failed to improve SHA, on May 9th, we were ready to issue a nationwide doctors' strike notice,” said Universal Health Coverage (UHC) worker Elias Mutai.

Joining them were the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) who pushed for the permanent employment of more than 8,500 UHC workers, who have been on contracts for five years.

The KUCO members also marched to Parliament demanding justice for more than 8,500 community health workers, who had been trapped in contract jobs for five years. Their message: temporary contracts for essential workers are illegal and unjust.

"They have been receiving half the salary of their counterparts. They were there to demand that they be permanently hired and included in the budget,” said KUCO Chair Peterson Wachira.

"We began our work when COVID struck. It's illegal to work on a contract for more than three years. Now it's five years earning a half salary. Ksh.4.5 billion isn’t a lot of money to put 8,000 UHC on PNP plus our gratuity," a UHC worker said.