- Council of Governors Anne Waiguru thanked the union for agreeing to call off the strike.
- Doctors have been on strike since March 14 paralysing service provision across all public health facilities.
Image: FILE
Doctors have called off the nationwide strike after signing a return-to-work formula agreement on Wednesday.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union and the government have both signed the agreement ending the 56-day medics nationwide strike.
Speaking after signing the return-to-work formula agreement, KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah said they wanted the doctors' intern posted immediately per the CBA, yet the government wanted them to wait for the court litigation before the agreement.
The SG said that the doctor interns will have to wait for 60 days for posting.
"All the doctor interns: Medical officer interns, Pharmacists interns and Dentists interns will have to wait a little bit longer, we have agreed on 60 days that they will not be posted but we will be having conversations on this issue," he said.
He assured doctors that the union will always endeavour to protect the rights of workers enshrined in the CBA.
"We had a long meeting today with the National Advisory Council which is the highest decision-making organ and they endorsed that we sign this return-to-work formula today so that it can pave the way for doctors to return to work within 24 hours from now," he said.
"That means the strike that began on March 13, has been called off."
He said that the government has insisted that the doctors need to believe in them.
"We have decided to take the promise for the last time, as we take this, one of the fundamental issues that is of doctor interns is still pending,"
Council of Governors Anne Waiguru thanked the union for agreeing to call off the strike.
She said the process of dialogue and negotiations will continue to settle all the issues.
Doctors have been on strike since March 14 paralysing service provision across all public health facilities.
They were demanding full implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2017.
They listed a total of 19 issues they wanted resolved, top among them the posting of medical interns on a Sh206,000 monthly salary.
Of the 19 issues doctors raised, six relate to counties, nine to the national government, and four to both levels of government.
The contentious issue of posting interns is a preserve of the national government.
The government had offered a Sh70,000 monthly stipend which they have rejected.
The government had tabled a fresh Sh6.1 billion offer to address doctors' demands even as the striking medics insisted on 'no deal' until the contentious issue - posting of interns - is cleared.