Medics announce TOTAL SHUTDOWN as doctors strike enter third week

The confrontation between the doctors and the government is set to intensify after the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) withdrew its members from the Kenyatta National Hospital private wing and threatened to extend this withdrawal to other private hospitals across the country.

KMPDU Secretary General, Ouma Oluga, said that the doctors’ strike, which is in its third week, will not be called off until they reach a deal with the Ministry of Health on the implementation of the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The threat by the doctors to withdraw their services from across all private hospitals is the second one after they had issue a similar threat over ten days ago.

Speaking in Nairobi, Oluga announced that they had already withdrawn their services from major private hospitals including Nairobi Hospital, the Aga Khan Hospital and MP Shah Hospital.

“All activities at the Kenyatta National Hospital Private Wing have been withdrawn,” said Oluga.

“We have also withdrawn our members from all major private hospital; Nairobi, Aga Khan, MP Shah.”

The KMPDU Secretary General said that the medics are “fully aware that the withdrawal of services brings adverse consequences.”

He, however, noted that they are ready for negotiations on the way forward but insists that it must be anchored on the implementation of the CBA.

The standoff between the doctors and the government has seen the medics walk out of the negotiations more than three times accusing the government of sabotaging the talks.

The nurses’, however, through their Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), called off their strike on Wednesday, December 14 after reaching a return-to-work deal with the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors.

The doctors are demanding a 300% pay rise, hiring of more medics and improvement of working conditions in all hospitals across the country.

They argue that they have been forced to work for long hours owing to the large doctor to patient ratio that stands at 1:16,000.

The government was forced to deploy the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) doctors to the Kenyatta National Hospital to attend to emergency services after talks collapsed.

The Council of Governors now want the doctors arrested for disobeying a court order that declared the strike illegal and ordered the KMPDU boss to direct their members to resume duty immediately.

Hassan Mugambi contributed to this report