Doctors have given various stakeholders until Tuesday next week to address key issues of concern failure to which they will proceed on strike.
One of the issues is the perennial delay in posting and payment of interns with a meeting held between the Ministry of Health and the unions on Tuesday bearing no fruits.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union on Wednesday officially gave the seven-day notice which will end on Tuesday at midnight.
Initially, the strike notice was supposed to be issued on Monday and expire on Sunday midnight but the union decided to delay the notice after being invited for the Tuesday meeting to allow time for dialogue.
The unions held a meeting with the Public Health PS Mary Muthoni on Tuesday to unlock the stalemate.
"The meeting that we had yesterday (Tuesday) morning which she (CS Susan Nakhumicha) had said we are going to solve this, the ministry said the same thing, that their hands are tied so we hope that this notice will untie their hands," Miskellah said.
"Come Wednesday, there will be no single medical doctor in any hospital where KMPDU has a membership."
Apart from the issue of posting interns, the doctors also want a refund of the deducted housing levy after it was declared unconstitutional by the court.
They also want recurrent salary delays and failure to remit statutory deductions and repayment of loans resolved once and for all.
Failure by the counties and the national government to provide comprehensive medical insurance coverage to the Union members is another issue to be handled in the ultimatum.
“We have seen that even those who were enjoying the medical cover it has been taken away and there is no clear replacement for the healthcare workers,” Miskellah said.
Similarly, the union wants temporary contracts of all doctors within the counties converted to permanent and pensionable terms.
This includes converting the terms of medics hired under the Universal Health Coverage health workers who were hired at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic to permanent and pensionable terms.
They further want the 113 medical officers who had been hired by Nairobi City County on contractual terms converted to permanent and pensionable terms.
They are further calling for adequate funding of the health sector with a budgetary commitment to fund all signed CBA beginning with increasing allocation to counties to Sh425 billion.
“Our SG Davji Atellahwas attacked, and almost killed in our demonstrations last week and we are demanding that if justice is not given to Atellah and 24 interns who got hurt we will not be going anywhere near hospitals,” he warned.
The strike notice has been issued to the CSs Ministries of Health, Labour, Interior, head of Public Service, Council of Governors, all county governments, all county public service boards, all Vice Chancellors of medical training universities and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
The CEOs of Kenyatta National Hospital, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, The Nairobi Hospital, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital and the Inspector General of Police are also targeted in the strike notice.
Miskellah said the strike has been necessitated by issues the unions feel have not been managed properly by the leadership in the health sector.
"We went to the ministry, and sadly nothing meaningful came out of that meeting. The PS said that either the interns wait for July or accept to work without a salary or wait as they plead with the Treasury," Miskellah said.
Speaking at Afya House on Tuesday, Health CS Susan had called on the unions to exercise patience as the ministry hopes to come up with a solution that will address the issue of posting of interns which has lingered on for several years.
Nakhumicha called on the union to sit at a table and allow for a discussion to take place adding that a strike will not resolve the matter.
"I want to acknowledge and take responsibility that there is a delay but it has been a problem for long so we are taking our time because we want to get a lasting solution," Nakhumicha said.
