Kenyan doctors have taken a bold stand in their fight for better pay and working conditions, as they escalated a national strike that has now entered its second week. Thousands of doctors have been absent from public hospitals, leaving many patients without the emergency services they desperately need.
Despite a court order mandating talks between the doctors and the Health Ministry, the strike persists. Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union Secretary-General Dr. Davji Bhimji explained that the doctors decided to stop providing even the bare minimum services because the government has shown no efforts to resolve the labor dispute.
Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha has taken action by instructing top referral hospitals to recruit replacement doctors to ensure that there is no gap in emergency services. She emphasized that a crisis cannot be allowed to happen and that temporary replacements have already been offered to fill the void left by the striking doctors.
An Associated Press journalist confirmed that emergency services at the Kenyatta national referral hospital in Nairobi had resumed on Thursday morning. Additionally, the Health Ministry is set to issue letters to 1,000 medical interns who will be posted in various hospitals across the country to help alleviate the strain caused by the strike.
The striking doctors are demanding that the government fulfill promises made in a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017, following a previous 100-day strike that resulted in preventable deaths due to lack of care. A meeting between the union, ministry officials, and State House officials is scheduled for Thursday in an effort to resolve the stand-off and ensure that Kenyans have access to the public health services they urgently need.
