We have potential but no chance – medical interns

Angela Nambiro graduated and has been waiting to be posted for her medical internship since October last year.

She had hoped that they would have been posted by the end of January but she is among the 1,215 interns who are yet to be posted by the government.

Despite being a graduate, she cannot practice since she does not have a practising license.

As a result, she has resorted to doing manual jobs, including selling ice pops, with the hope that the posting will be done soon.

"We demand that they post us because in reality we are illegal doctors, we can't practice," she said.

"I finished school last year on October 7, and from then I have been looking for manual jobs, selling ice pops, applying for online jobs but it has been hard." 

After eight years in university, she feels that getting that internship is the only way her potential can be unlocked.

Just like Nambiro, Daudi Chiranzi has been waiting to be posted.

He termed it ironic that Africa is contemplating banning expertise seeking jobs in other continents yet those already trained remain hopeless and jobless.

Chiranzi noted that despite having the potential, medical interns have been waiting for longer to be posted, hence cannot be useful to the health needs of the country.

"The question has been on why the govern would use huge amounts of money to rain us and other countries benefit, we have no option," he said.

"It is either we get facilitated within the country to serve Kenyans or we look for a way out because, from the look of things, it is only your effort that will help us reach where we want to be." 

The medical interns who are waiting for their posting letters on Tuesday gathered in Nairobi with union officials to chat about a way forward on the matter.

The meeting was attended by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union officials led by the SG Davji Atellah, national chairman Abi Mwachi and deputy SG Miskellah Dennis.

During the meeting, it was agreed that posting for the interns be done by March 1 failure to which doctors in the country will stage a go-slow in protest.

Atellah said the delay in posting the interns not only tramples upon their constitutional rights but also places an imminent threat on patient care within public hospitals.

He further noted that the delay is not just a convenience but also hinders their ability to fulfill their duties hence an impediment to their career progression.

"The repercussions of this unjustifiable delay extend directly to the patients who depend on public hospitals for medical attention," Atellah said.

Atellah said the interns had been wallowing in desperation at home yet the country suffers from a shortage of doctors in hospitals.

"We are putting the Ministry of Health, the Treasury, the Council of Governors and the whole country that if by March 1 we do not have direction on the posting of interns, all the doctors across the country will be on go slow," Atellah said.

He noted that the issues of interns are for the entire workforce in the country adding that the union will work round the clock to ensure they are posted by March.

The issue has seen the ministry hold a series of meetings with the unions with the latest having taken place on Thursday last week.

During the meeting between the health unions and the CS Susan Nakhumicha, the ministry said the delay had been occasioned by the failure of the Treasury to release funds on time.

Another follow-up meeting is slated to take place on Thursday this week between the ministry and the unions.

In a meeting which was held on January 22, it had been agreed that the interns would be posted before the end of February.