‘Ready for strike!’ Kiambu doctors decry salary delays, increased workloads

Doctors in Kiambu County have expressed their readiness to down their tools in solidarity with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), which has called for a nationwide medics strike on December 22, 2024.

The countrywide protest is in response to delayed salaries and other critical issues undermining their profession, including the government’s failure to adhere to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed with the doctors.

KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah made the announcement after visiting the Kiambu Level V Hospital on Wednesday, highlighting that frustration and anger are mounting among doctors at the facility, who are grappling with severe salary delays.

In addition, Dr. Atellah said the doctors pointed to unlawful removals from payrolls, a lack of promotions and the government’s failure to pay interns in line with the CBA as major factors contributing to a deteriorating work environment.

“The doctors expressed their deep frustrations over delayed salaries - some unpaid for up to nine months - unlawful removal from payrolls, lack of promotions, and increased workloads caused by the county government's refusal to recruit more healthcare workers,” Dr. Atellah said in a statement to newsrooms.

 “Kiambu County continues to rank as one of the most hostile employers, consistently failing to honour the 2017 Return to Work Formula (RTWF) and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The doctors also highlighted the government's failure to pay interns in compliance with the CBA, escalating frustrations, and creating a hostile work environment.”

In response to the ongoing injustices, the KMPDU boss went on, the doctors reaffirmed their readiness to take industrial action.

“Despite these glaring injustices, the doctors reaffirmed their unity and readiness to participate in the nationwide strike set for 22/12/2024. They called for urgent reforms to protect the profession, uphold the RTWF and CBA, and ensure payment of debts owed to doctors,” he said.

“Our power lies in our skills, solidarity, and unity. Together, we will fight to restore dignity to our profession and deliver the justice healthcare workers deserve. The time for action is now.”

In calling for the strike last week, Dr. Atellah also decried the government's contempt for court orders, particularly the judgment delivered on October 26, 2024, which validated the CBA on the remuneration package for medical interns.

"The doctor intern wages have been reduced by 70%, a situation unforeseen in workers history in this country and the world over. It is on the backdrop of these unfilled promises and impunity on our interns by both the national and county governments that the 10th KMPDU special delegate sitting on 30th November, 2024 ratified NAC decision for industrial action," he stated in an address on December 3, 2024.