Big win for doctors as govt set to pay salaries for strike period

The government has directed that doctors from across the country be paid salaries for the three months they were on strike.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, while on a tour of Kiambu on Wednesday, April 5, said that the medics, who were on strike from December 5, 2016 to early March this year, be paid their full salaries for that period.

The President said the government will pay them even though they did not work and many Kenyans seeking services in public hospitals suffered at the time.

He urged governors to also pay doctors working in their hospitals. The governors, through the Council of Governors chairman Peter Munya, have maintained that the doctors would not be paid for the period not worked.

The President said it was unfortunate that people who have been educated by taxpayers and taken an oath to treat patients without favour, violated it, leading to suffering.

The President said although workers have a right to go on strike, doctors should have been more responsible to save lives rather than let Kenyans die because of a ‘salary increase’.

“Can we bring back to life those who died because of lack of medical care during the doctor’s strike?”

“You took an oath to treat patients whether it is day or night; you swore to save life with or without money,” the President said.