• Last Friday during a Whole of the Nation Approach Committee meeting, the two sides failed to agree to end the strike.
• On Monday, the government threatened to divert the Sh2.4 billion which was meant to pay medical interns on other emerging issues like floods.
Image: SCREENGRAB
Doctors have now said they will comply with court orders to agree with the state on a return-to-work formula within 48 hours.
Their union had previously said it would not honour court orders that suspended the strike on March 13, accusing the government of also disobeying orders.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union chairman Abi Mwachi said they will comply with the latest orders.
“Our KMPDU national advisory council held a meeting to plan on how to comply with the orders. It is incumbent upon both teams to rise to the occasion and show leadership, especially at such a time where the stakes are rising with every passing day," he said.
"The judge ordered that we merge the two solitary RTWFs into a converged document within 48 hours. We are ready to comply as the KMPDU.”
The medics went on strike on March 14, demanding the posting of interns. They also said some clauses from their 2017 Comprehensive Bargaining Agreement have not been implemented.
Last Friday during a Whole of the Nation Approach Committee meeting with the state, the two sides failed to agree to end the strike.
Union secretary general Davji Atellah claimed they were ambushed with an RTWF that was not agreeable to them.
KMPDU insisted the document from the negotiations was incomplete and could not be a return-to-work formula.
The union said several issues were pending from the strike notice.
Upon their disagreement, the committee representing both the county and the national governments signed the document, which was expected to be presented in court last Monday.
KMPDU officials then said they would sign a different document that captures their demands and present the same in court as the return-to-work formula.
On Monday, the Employment and Labour Relations Court directed the government and striking doctors to come up with one return-to-work formula by Wednesday.
"Parties are given a final chance to conclude a return-to-work formula by return date, failing which the court will hear the petitions and determine all pending applications in the petition," the orders read.
Justice Byrum Ongaya said if this is not done, the court will have to hold a hearing of the petitions in the case from 2.30pm for two hours.
The Wednesday session, he said, will be shared by the parties' counsel for purposes of the hearing, as the case may be.
The judge advised that as the parties are on a threshold for concluding the return-to-work formula, they are encouraged to proceed accordingly, in good faith.
He said for purposes of the hearing and if no return-to-work formula is concluded, parties will be at liberty to file and serve soft and hard copy submissions by noon on May 8, 2024.
Last Sunday, Atellah claimed the government had been dishonest in implementing their CBA.
“We have patiently waited for seven years for our hard-earned CBA to be implemented, during which we have gone through endless consultations, negotiations and court processes whose outcomes employers never implement nor obey," he said.
"The most recent progressive process resulted in an implementation matrix signed on January 6, 2023, by CS for Health, CoG representatives and the union.”
On Monday, the government threatened to divert the Sh2.4 billion, which was meant to pay medical interns on other emerging issues like floods.