Intern doctors accuse KMPDU of betrayal after agreement with Gov't

Intern doctors say the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) betrayed them in its return-to-work agreement with the government on the May 8, 2024.

A week after the doctors' strike came to an end, the issue of terms for intern doctors which was a key point of contention remains unresolved. 

The matter is pending before the Labour court in Eldoret, with KMPDU in its defence saying that it gave the government 60 days to address the matter, at the risk of industrial action in case of failure.

Since March 6, 2024, when the nationwide doctor's strike commenced, the posting of medical interns and the planned reduction of their monthly pay from Ksh.206,000 to Ksh.70,000 as advised by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) was one of the key issues in contention.

“We never imagined that we are the ones who made the strike to be there and then only for other issues to be sorted and we were left out,” said Irene Auma, an intern doctor.

KMPDU met a number of doctor interns on Wednesday with a message of hope to resolve the matter in 60 days as agreed with the government.

“This Ksh.70,000 toa PAYE 30% so Ksh.49,000...we have NHIF, we have SHIF, housing levy and then kuna Ksh.3,000 ya union so probably I will get Ksh.25,000. This money is supposed to cook my food, wash my house, facilitate my transport...mark you emergencies saa sita, saa saba nitapigiwa simu, whether it’s raining or not I have to go there,” another intern doctor, Francis Agwambo, said.

“Working 24 hours for seven days every day...we are the first people seeing the patients in the hospital, we are the only ones giving the diagnosis and managing them...we don't even sleep in our houses...to be honest, na si kwa ubaya, that is not enough,” Auma added.

According to KMPDU, the government asked for 60 more days to sort out the intern doctor issue.

“The issue of them being posted is still our priority because as we said before and as we still continue to say, interns offer 35% of healthcare in this country and therefore them not being at work means 60% of services are not being offered...over 35% and 40% work is not being done,” said KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah.

“We know that in these 52 days the issue has to be resolved and if not resolved we have no absolute way but to go back to our actions that we know better.”

This comes as the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers (KNUMLO) members were on the streets, 42 days after they downed their tools demanding recognition as a medical cadre and better pay from the employer.

“You cannot treat medical lab officers like people who have not gone to school, we are in a modern world, we cannot do without lab testing. We lost most of our colleagues during COVID-19 we want to tell them the risk allowance that they took from us must be reinstated for us to go back to the job, and we are not going to work with the Ksh.3,000 they are giving us for risk allowance,” said KNUMLO Secretary General Pius Nyakundi.

KNUMLO Chairperson Nicholas Odipo added: “It is time for the Ministry of Health to recognize medical laboratory services...you cannot re-engineer medical lab officers when we have quacks at the National Division of National Laboratory...we are not going to allow that, not now not never.”

The medical laboratory officers have said they will withdraw all their services in government medical laboratories until there issues are addressed.