Clinical officers have issued a seven-day strike notice if their salaries aren't paid.
Kenya Union of Clinical Officer's chairman Peterson Wachira on Friday said the government has until August 16 to pay their salaries.
The chairman wants their salaries paid through a different institution other than the government.
"A health institution should be put in place that will mainly listen to our grievances and have them settled in time," he said.
Guided by the Labour Relations Act 2017, the chairman said,"Once a month ends the salaries are due and if not paid the government is liable."
The association has gone on to say that they are facing challenges, including lack of resources to run the hospitals.
In April the Secretary of KUCO secretary general George Gibore said they had sought intervention from the Senate and the National Assembly health committees but the efforts hit a dead end as "the Council of governors refused to cooperate".
“We have done several petitions to both employers with the latest dated January 28 imploring on them to reconstitute the negotiations but it’s now clear that they are unwilling,” he said.
“We have exhausted all the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as provided for in the law and are now left with the single option of a strike.”
Clinical officers were demanding risk and call allowances to be raised from Sh3,000 and Sh10,000 to Sh30,000 and Sh70,000.
They also wanted health workers’ allowances increased from Sh20,000 to Sh30,000.
The clinicians were asking the government to employ an additional 4,700 officers and put in place a revamped comprehensive medical cover.
"We want the government to start paying our interns. The last time they were paid is 1997. They do a lot of work and mostly for long hours," said Gibore.
The union also wanted the government to allow those who want to advance their training to do so without any delay.
"The counties need to do an assessment and prioritize the training for the clinical officers. We have less clinical officers who have specialized training like ontology, mental health and reproductive among other areas," Gibore said.
