KAKAMEGA COUNTY KENYA MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS ISSUE A SEVEN DAY STRIKE NOTICE

KAKAMEGA MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS WANT GOVERNOR OPARANYA TO STOP UNNECESSARY INTIMIDATION

By Callys Imbai

Doctors in Kakamega have threatened to go on strike if their grievances are not addressed within a period of seven days.

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union-KMPDU has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the County, government to call an urgent meeting to address issues in their collective bargaining agreement-CBA pact or else they will down their tools and paralyze operations in all the health facilities across the County.

While addressing journalists in a Kakamega hotel, the KMPDU leaders for Kakamega branch expressed concern about what they termed as deliberate attempts by the county government of Kakamega to humiliate, frustrate and abuse the of the doctors’ spirit of good industrial harmony and blatant breach of the CBA signed between them and the administration.

In a the statement read by the branch chairman Dr. Antony Akoto, the doctors cited removal of five doctors from the payroll without any official communication, reason or explanation as one of the reasons for the ultimatum.

They also said no doctor in the common cadre job group has been promoted for the last four years and that there was lack of goodwill by the Kakamega County government to fully implement the already signed doctors’ CBA as no single CBA implementation meeting had been held as per the Council of governors’ circular of 2oth December 2017.

“Kakamega County should wake up, do more to improve healthcare. We want our governor to stop neglecting doctors and healthcare workers and purpose to meet us in order to resolve these pending issues.” Akoto stated

The doctors however said they were in full support of the ongoing debate about formation of Health Service Commission –HSC arguing that this will deal with human resource element in the health sector once and for all.

The medical practitioners want within seven days to have their five interdicted colleagues reinstated back to the payroll by the county government.

They also want kakamega county government to come up with structures and policy guiding the release of doctors for post graduate training and the county secretary to convene the first CBA implementation committee meeting within the seven days or else they will down their tools.

The kakamega KMPDU branch chairman was flanked by Dr. Charo Kahindi the branch secretary, Dr. Geoffrey Githinji the liaison officer and Dr. Bennard Wambulwa the Western branch treasurer among other doctors.