The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union says that the government is yet to honour the 2017-2021 CBA, two months after they called off their strike to allow for dialogue.
According to KMPDU secretary general Dr Davji Atellah, the efforts to get a report on the progress of the implementation from the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors have not yielded fruits.
"On January 4, we sat with the Council of Governors, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour and agreed on a framework to ensure that the CBA signed in 2017, which runs between 2017 and 2021 is fully implemented and up to date we’ve been waiting to receive the report of the multi-agency committee that was sitting. We wrote to the ministry and council of governors to get reports on the same. That has not been done," he said.
Atellah noted that before they agreed to the talks, they had sought the intervention of the court, which directed that failure to implement the CBA, all doctors were free to down their tools.
He insisted that if any doctor fails to participate in the strike, they will be going against the issued court order.
Atellah added that during a meeting with President William Ruto in February, the head of state assured trade unions that he was committed to ensuring that all CBAs are implemented.
"The president reiterated his commitment to ensuring every Kenyan has access to healthcare, no industrial actions in the country, and that CBAs are implemented."
KMPDU called off its planned strike that was set to begin on January 6. The union had issued a 30-day strike notice.
They demanded immediate posting of intern doctors and doctor shortage in hospitals among other things.
"County governments and parastatals have abandoned the implementation of the CBA, ignoring basic salary adjustments, creation of call rooms and posting of medical interns," they said.
"Doctors continue to be trained by more than 9 universities in Kenya yet they remain unemployed and exploited to the detriment of the quality of healthcare practice. Counties have an extreme shortage, some even with 1 consultant serving the whole county."
