Doctors shouldnt have right to picket Kamar

As patients countrywide continue to agonize following the continued doctor’s strike, former Higher Education Minister Margaret Kamar has proposed the removal of Doctors from the list of public servants with a right to picket.

Arguing that exercising this right has been heavily detrimental to the Kenyan public, Kamar proposed the formation of a body to deal with doctors’ salary disputes.

Speaking in Eldoret, Prof Kamar said it was a big mistake to allow doctors to go on strike because of the nature of their work that involves saving lives.

Kamar noted that private hospitals are not a viable solution because they are very expensive, and majority of Kenyans cannot be able to pay for treatment.

Expressing optimism that an amicable solution will be reached, Kamar appealed to doctors to resume work and exercise patience as their union officials continue with their negotiations.

Kamar’s sentiments came just hours after the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) officials announced that the talks between them and the government have resumed.

According to the union’s Secretary General Dr. Ouma Oluga, the talks resumed after the government acknowledged the Collective Bargaining Agreement that was signed in 2013 as a legal document.

Even as the government is set to try and break through the deadlock that has seen the health sector paralysed since December 5, 2016, Dr. Oluga insists that the talks will focus on the implementation of the CBA.

Among the demands put out by the medics include the full implementation of the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement that, among other things, will see them receive a 300% pay rise, more doctors recruited to reduce the current doctor to patient ratio that stands at 1:16,000 and improve their working conditions.

The doctors, led by the Union’s Dr Oluga, have vowed to continue with their strike until the government implements the 2013 CBA.

On Thursday, December 8, the medics declined a deal by the government awarding them a salary increment of between Ksh32,000 and Ksh46,000.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has since urged the striking doctors not to make innocent patients suffer as the government works to resolve the issues they had raised.

He called on the doctors to have a spirit of understanding and look after the lives of their patients as the dispute is resolved.

Meanwhile the Kenya National Union of Nurses-KNUN and the county government of Nakuru have failed to agree on modalities to end the ongoing nurses’ strike in the county that entered its 15th day today.

The nurses’ leader David Omulama said the over 1,200 nurses will continue with their strike.

Activities in public hospitals are slowly returning to normal with several nurses reported to have resumed work while in other counties some have kept off from their places of work, despite the strike being called off.

Additional reporting by John Wanyama