2013 CBA with doctors was work in progress ex-PS who signed deal

2013 CBA with doctors was work in progress  ex-PS who signed deal

The ongoing negotiations to end the doctors’ strike that has lasted for over two months may now take a different route after the for Public Health and Sanitation Principal Secretary, Mark Bor, denounced the contentious 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Mr Bor appended his signature on the CBA that was reached after negotiations with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) that would see doctors get a higher pay, more medics hired and health facilities equipped better.

While appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Health on Wednesday, February 22, Mr Bor told the Parliamentarians that the CBA was a ‘work in progress’ with remuneration being among the pending issues.

Bor, who left the office in 2013, said that he signed the contentious CBA after leaving office but with the authority of the then Cabinet Secretary for health, James Macharia.

He, however, said what he signed was a provision document meant to pave way for the doctors to negotiate for a final document with the government.

However, the MPs declared Bor a hostile witness for failing to cooperate with them and asked him to leave the chambers.

The CBA signed by the Government and the then KMPDU Secretary General, Sultani Matendechero, and chairman Victor Ng’ani, on June 27, 2013 would see a 187% pay hike for all medical practitioners.

The agreement also included a review of job groups, promotions, deployment as well as the annual recruitment of 1,200 doctors to reduce the doctor patient ratio.

If implemented, the 2013 CBA would see the lowest paid doctor earn a salary of over Ksh 300,000 and the highest paid would earn slightly under Ksh 1 million per month.

The House allowance would rise to between Ksh 30,000 and Ksh 120,000 depending on the job group, up from between Ksh 20, 000 and Ksh 80,000.

Extraneous allowance would range between Ksh 60,000 and Ksh 100,000 per month, up from between Ksh 30,000 and Ksh 40,000, while commuter allowance would have gone up to between Ksh 20,000 and Ksh 50,000, up from between Ksh 6,000 and Ksh 16,000.

Non-practicing allowance would have remained at between Ksh 12, 000 to Ksh 60,000 per month.

The CBA provided that all doctors in public facilities would work 40 hours per week and any extra hours would be compensated.

However, the Government has persistently argued that CBA is exaggerated and did not involve the salaries body – Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), and the Council of Governors.

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