Health CS Nakhumicha threatens to move to court if doctors fail to call off strike

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha says the ministry will move to court if the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) does not call off the doctors’ strike which entered its 41st day on Tuesday.

Since March 14, the doctors have abandoned their duty stations and have been protesting the government’s failure to post medical interns and obey a 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on doctors’ labour terms.

Laying out the progress of her ministry in wooing doctors back to work at a press conference in Nairobi, Nakhumicha said they have embarked on a review of the internship policy to align it with the inflow of interns.

She said the health ministry has got Ksh.3.5 billion salary arrears accrued from 2017 to 2024 June, which will be paid in five instalments.

Nakhumicha said they have received Ksh.2.4 billion for payment of medical interns at the Ksh.70,000 monthly rate which KMPDU has since turned down, demanding the Ksh.206,000 set in the CBA.

She insisted that the offer was still available until the end of the 2023/2024 financial year in June when review negotiations can be held.

“This offer shall have to be renegotiated after June 2024,” said the minister.

Further, Nakhumicha said the health ministry has received Ksh.200 million to pay postgraduate arrears for doctors who have done speciality training.

“Follow-up to the doctors’ refusal to call off the strike, we have instructed our counsel to immediately move to court and file the status report as to what we had agreed to as a return-to-work formula,” the CS said.

“We will be asking our counsel to appeal to the court to review the orders that had been issued initially so that we are allowed to take necessary action to ensure Kenyans continue to enjoy healthcare services.”

Doctors were on Tuesday expected to give their stand on the strike following the conclusion of negotiations with the government through the Whole of Nation Approach Committee summoned by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.

At the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) where KMPDU officials failed to turn up to sign a return-to-work agreement on Monday, Koskei said the government had agreed to postpone the signing to Tuesday.

He said the government gave medics time to conclude discussions among themselves after Monday’s meeting went on until late evening.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court last Wednesday extended orders suspending the protracted doctors' strike in a bid to pave the way for further negotiations.