Doctors Calls Off strike After Talks With The Government

By Jackson Nyakoe

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and the government have today signed a return-to-work formula agreeing to go back to work.

Doctors had put down their tools on March 14 neglecting their work stations and have been protesting the government’s failure to post medical interns and obey a 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on medics’ labour terms.

The calling off of the strike comes few days after the Employment and Labour Relations Court had ordered the government and striking doctors to finalize the return-to-work formula by today failure to which the court would have held a hearing of the petitions in the case.

This same KMPDU failed to sign the Return to Work Formula last week and the government threatened to divert the Sh2.4 billion which was meant to pay medical interns on other emerging issues like floods.

This week, doctors and medical practitioners based in the United States on Monday released a statement expressing their support for striking doctors hence protesting in solidarity with striking Kenyan doctors.

According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Medical interns’ pay had been decreased from Sh 206,000 to Sh70,000 based on the principles of affordability, sustainability, fairness, and equity.