Nandi doctors threaten to go strike over poor working conditions

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union wants Nandi Governor Stephen Sang to ensure that doctors in the region are supported to perform their duties effectively failure to which the union would call a strike.

KMPDU officials in North Rift led by chairman Dr Darwin Ambuka said county was the worst in handling doctors and other medics.

“Doctors are still facing problems like delayed salaries, there are those who are not even paid and so many other challenges, including failure to promote those who are due for the same,” Dr Ambuka said.

He said the county had been talks with the Health executive and the county secretary but so far there had been no efforts to resolve issues which affect service delivery by the doctors.

“We are now telling the governor that should he not intervene to ensure problems affecting doctors are resolved then we will not have any other options but to call a strike so that our issues are heard," the KPMDU official said. 

But Governor Sang told the Star that he was not aware of any of such issues as raised by the doctors.

"My office is open and we always listen to them. If they have issues, I am sure they will share with me and I will address them. As you are aware in my first term, we never had any strike because I worked closely with them to address any issues they had. That is what I will continue doing," the governor said. 

Dr Ambuka further said they want counties to address challenges affecting the healthcare system with commitment to help Kenyans access quality services.

He said the union welcomed government plan to deploy 800 intern doctors, but said that an acute shortage of that personnel would still persist in the counties.

“We are urging counties to also consider hiring more doctors  because we have serious shortages in all health facilities,” the KPMDU official said, citing Uasin Gishu county which has about 30 doctors serving a population of more than one million people.

KMPDU has faulted counties like Turkana for advertising to employ some doctors on contract. Dr Ambuka said the medics should be hired on permanent and pensionable terms so that they work with assurance on their job security.

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Wafula had said the interns would be deployed as from this week to help ease the shortage of medical experts in most hospitals.

“We are deploying the intern doctors because we are committed to delivering quality healthcare to all Kenyans,” the CS said. 

During a tour of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Wafula also met with KMPDU North Rift branch officials led by Dr Ambuka.

The KPMDU official expressed concern that shortage of doctors was adversely affecting medical services at hospitals in the region.

The country has more than 5,000 unemployed doctors and Dr Ambuka said they want President William Ruto’s administration to prioritise healthcare and ensure that all hospitals have capacity to serve Kenyans effectively.

Dr Ambuka said there was a burning shortage of doctors in the country but the situation is worse in North Rift counties.

West Pokot county, for example, they said has 38 doctors serving a population of more than 621,000 people, meaning the doctor-population ration stands at 1 to 17,000, which is way too far from the World Health Organization standard of 1 to 1,000.

“The deficit cuts across all counties in the region and the figures are shocking and unacceptable. We, therefore, need to absorb all trained doctors in the country and also train more,” Dr Ambuka said.

 

(edited by Amol Awuor)