The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has ordered intern doctors to cease working over unpaid dues.
The order to down tools comes after the tragic death of an intern doctor in Thika.
KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah has since directed all intern doctors to stop working immediately, regretting that some have turned to suicide as the government has failed to pay them their dues.
“These are children, human beings who have gone to school and are dedicated to serving Kenyans. However, due to the government’s actions, they have decided to erratically alter what has been in place for the last seven years, without any goodwill,” Atellah said in a press conference on Wednesday, November 27, 2024.
Atellah expressed regret that efforts to negotiate with the government have been met with frustration.
“As a union we have tried to be patient and negotiate with goodwill but our patience has been mistaken for weakness, because when we go on strike it is different. It doesn’t mean that the roads will delay, It doesn’t mean that children will not go to school. When we go on strike people lose their lives,” he said.
KMPDU urged all intern doctors to stay home, announcing that a general strike would be declared on November 30, 2024.
“We call on all interns to stay at home until the government immediately pays their salaries as agreed. On November 30, we will convene to address these injustices and issue a national strike notice,” KMPDU said on X.
Strike notice by KMPDU
Dr. Davji Atellah on November 9, 2024, voiced the union’s frustration following an impasse over payment discrepancies that affect both entry-level interns and experienced doctors.
The primary point of contention is the new payment structure stipulated in a recent Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) circular, which sets the gross pay for interns between Ksh47,000 and Ksh70,000, contrary to the CBA rate agreed upon with the union.
The KMPDU boss argued that this SRC-mandated pay scale is well below the rate specified in their 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
Atellah stated that while the salaries for non-contested job categories are progressing, discussions with the Ministry of Health over the contested intern wages hit an impasse on October 31.
“We have had several meetings with the @MOH_Kenya that ended at a deadlock on 31/10/2024. Ministry stuck at SRC circular of 47k-70k gross, and we stood by CBA rate,” Atellah wrote on X.
