The Ministry of Health has begun posting the first batch of 874 medical interns to various public hospitals in the country.
This was part of the commitments made by the ministry to avert a doctors’ strike that was supposed to begin on January 6.
The directive by Health CS Susan Wafula came after a series of meetings with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists and Pharmacists Union, the ministry and the Council of Governors a fortnight ago.
“During the meeting with KMPDU officials and CoG committees on health and labour, various pending issues that cut across both levels of government were discussed and the road map towards their resolutions escalated,” the ministry said.
Doctors had threatened to withdraw their services if the demands of their 2017-2021 CBA remained unmet.
But the union shelved their plan to strike a balance even as the negotiations continue.
“Even though we are far from any agreement, we have decided to give dialogue a third chance as goodwill for Kenyans,” KMPDU secretary general Dr Davji Atellah said.
During a meeting chaired by the Wafula, the parties came up with a framework to have all the issues that had been issued implemented in 60 days latest by March 5.
The parties implored that after all the discussions the agreement documents will be deposited in court as a consent order for the agreement that was reached.
