Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha has called on doctors to exercise patience as the ministry seeks to find a lasting solution to the internship issue.
Speaking at Afya House on Tuesday, Nakhumicha said the ministry is in contact with the union officials to come up with a solution that will address the issue of posting interns.
This comes hours after the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union gave the ministry a seven-day ultimatum to address issues affecting its members' failure to which they will call for a nationwide strike from Sunday midnight.
Nakhumicha has instead called on the union to sit at a table and allow for a discussion to take place adding that a strike will not resolve the matter.
"I want to acknowledge and take responsibility that there is a delay but it has been a problem for long so we are taking our time because we want to get a lasting solution," Nakhumicha said.
"Let them give us time to settle this matter, I know they are anxious about the posting but once we resolve the outstanding issues we will be able to communicate to them before the time they have given us."
The CS said apart from the funding required, the ministry is taking into consideration other factors such as the availability of trainers to supervise the interns.
According to the CS, the union officials on Tuesday held a meeting with the Public Health and Professional Standards PS Mary Muthoni to unlock the stalemate and reach a common ground.
Nakhumicha said the country currently has level 4, 5 and 6 facilities which are internship centres and which must meet the requirements for the internship programme.
She said the facilities must have medical officers and specialists who will supervise the interns, the equipment that these interns will use and health commodities that the interns will use once posted.
"Many things need to be prepared and be available for us to have interns to be posted and for them to acquire the knowledge that they so need under that internship programme," Nakhumicha said.
"It doesn't make sense for us to post without payment, it doesn't make sense for us to post without ensuring that the other things that I have talked about are available so that is the conversation that is ongoing so I want to assure the interns that something is being done and we are going to resolve this thing once and for all."
The CS acknowledged that the issue is a matter that requires a conversation by several stakeholders including the Ministry of Education, the county governments, the Ministry of Labour, the National Treasury, the Public Service Commission and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
The decision by the doctors to issue a strike notice was arrived at after the National Advisory Committee Council held a meeting on Sunday.
Speaking on Monday, deputy secretary general Dennis Miskellah said the strike notice was to be issued in June but the move to push it forward was necessitated by the recent occurrences.
He said these include the injury of SG Davji Atellah during protests held on Thursday last week.
There has also been a push and pull between the unions and the government on the posting of interns whom they (unions) claim are wasting away and languishing at home.
"We met as the National Advisory Committee Council and we have agreed to do our nationwide strike starting Sunday next week," Miskellah said.
According to KMPDU, 1,215 medical interns are awaiting posting with some having waited for either six months or one year.
