Davji Atellah scolds health committee chair Pukose on TV over medical interns' KMPDU membership

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary-General Davji Atellah has rebuked Robert Pukose, the chairperson of the National Assembly Health Committee, over comments about medical interns’ membership in the doctors’ union.

During Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Wednesday, Pukose defended the government’s stance in the hitherto unfruitful negotiations with striking medics who are protesting the government’s failure to post medical interns and obey a 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on doctors’ labour terms.

So far, the government has presented a Ksh.70,000 offer for the medical interns in place of the Ksh.206,000 set in the CBA, which the doctors have turned down.

Pukose said the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) offer was the best medical interns could get, citing a tight budgetary allocation the health ministry is working with.

“From the SRC point of view, looking at the money vis-à-vis the number (of medical interns), the proposal was Ksh.50,000 to Ksh.70,000, but the president said let us do the Ksh.70,000 maximum,” said the Endebess MP.

He accused KMPDU of deceit, claiming the union was primarily motivated by the Ksh.3,000 monthly membership medical interns will begin paying once posted.

“When issues crop up, that is where you have the dishonesty begins, because the union expects some money to be given to them out of this Ksh.70,000,” said Pukose, to which Atellah curtly interrupted.

“Let me clarify,” Pukose protested. But Atellah shut him up, responding; “There is no clarity in lying.”

“Let us not reduce the illegality being perpetuated on these interns to the dues being paid to KMPDU,” the doctors’ union secretary-general said.

Atellah maintained that the 2017 CBA gives doctors a legal mandate to claim what they are entitled to.

He reprimanded the health committee chairperson for what he described as supporting exploitation.

“I am so shocked that Pukose is the chair of the health committee; it means the policies they are going to make are going to exploit these interns further,” said Atellah.

“A negotiated CBA gives us a legal mandate. For someone to be a union member and be represented legally, [they have to pay] union subscriptions which are voluntary from the doctors.”

Atellah accused the MP of trivializing doctors’ demands, telling him: “This is not about the pay being too small to pay union subscription, it is about the sanctity of a policy agreement between an employer and employee.”

“That is why they (the government) made a policy that would exclude these intern doctors from the union to exploit them further,” he added.

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha on Tuesday said the ministry will move to court if KMPDU does not call off the doctors’ strike which entered its 42nd day on Wednesday.

She said they have received Ksh.2.4 billion for payment of medical interns at the Ksh.70,000 monthly rate and insisted that the offer was still available until the end of the 2023/2024 financial year in June when review negotiations can be held.

“Follow-up to the doctors’ refusal to call off the strike, we have instructed our counsel to immediately move to court and file the status report as to what we had agreed to as a return-to-work formula,” said the minister.

“We will be asking our counsel to appeal to the court to review the orders that had been issued initially so that we are allowed to take necessary action to ensure Kenyans continue to enjoy healthcare services.”