Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union Secretary-General Davji Atellah has said chances are very high that medics will go on strike by the end of the year.
Atellah, speaking on Wednesday during an interview with Spice FM, said the doctors' strike will be due to the failure of the government to implement a Collective Bargaining Agreement they had come to in 2022.
"We are almost 90 per cent sure that we will go on strike in December this year. When we gave a strike notice last year, everybody told us that we need to give the government time to implement the Collective Bargaining Agreement that we had at that time," he said.
He said the CBA was supposed to be implemented following a court order.
In his opinion, the failure of the state to implement the CBA is the cause of the numerous strikes that have taken place across the country this year.
"Some of the agitations and strikes we have seen in Embu, Nakuru, Nyamira, Kakamega are just an element of the CBA which has not been implemented," he said.
He said the whole of this year, KMPDU has engaged the government on how best to implement the CBA.
"We have had sittings from January to date. In fact, on October 6 we have another meeting. But we are not seeing headways in this particular discussion despite our patience," Atellah said.
If by November the solution to their grievances is not found, Atellah said it will only be right for medics to go on strike.
"When you go on strike, it means there is nothing else you can do. It means it is the last bullet you have. We have given the government enough time," he said.
Among the issues Atellah said medics want to address is the poor state of some of the hospitals in the country.
He said medics are not after money, simply better working conditions.
"We are just asking that the hospitals in a bad state which lack equipment, drugs, and doctors be looked into," Atellah said.
He said there are hospitals that are understaffed, seeking that the government employ more doctors.
In the understaffed hospitals, Atellah said the doctors are barely allowed to go on leave.
He said doctors recently struck and matched to the Ministry of Health offices, Council of Governors offices, and Parliament buildings over the hiring of more doctors.
"If our grievances are not met and the CBA implemented by November, then we are very sure that we are proceeding with the strike. And it will be national," Atellah said.
