Doctors have issued fresh strike notice to the government after one of their own died by suicide last month.
Fred Muoki is said to have taken his life on January 27 in Kangundo over what he alleged to be frustrations due to unemployment.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentist's Union SG Davji Atellah on Tuesday said suicide was caused by depression with the deceased medic having left a note saying he couldn't bear to see his family suffer despite him having graduated.
In a suicide note to his sister, Muoki had described his desperation not being able to find employment and the sorrow of watching his poor family struggle months after completing his internship at Kangundo level four hospital.
Atellah now says should the government fail to take action on the issue of unemployment by young doctors they will be left with no choice but to proceed with the strike in March.
"Daktari represents the hundreds of our bright brothers and sisters who after toiling for years training to be medics have found themselves either unemployed, underemployed or working under precarious contracts that don't offer them similar benefits as their older colleagues," Atellah said.
According to the SG, it takes seven years to train a medical doctor at a cost of between Sh4 million and Sh5 million.
He hit the government for what he terms as training doctors and abandoning them to suffer noting that patients have continued to suffer for hours and even months to wait for essential healthcare services.
"It is sad to note that the nation would spend so much on training its greatest brains in one of the noblest professions and fail to utilise them to save the lives of Kenyans who continue to die from treatable illnesses," he said.
The union now wants the government to put in place measures to have an annual recruitment of doctors just like it is done in the military.
