The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union announced it has suspended plans for industrial action in the wake of dialogue held with officials from the national and county governments.
The doctors had issued a strike notice that was to take effect Friday, lamenting failure by the government to implement a Collective Bargaining Agreement signed five years ago.
KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah confirmed the decision to call off the planned strike at a press conference, arguing that the move will pave way for further talks, even though the two sides were yet to fully agree on the way forward on issues in contention.
“As a union we don’t intend to put Kenyans to the agony of suffering from lack of essential services and lack of doctors in the hospitals and we think that it is important the Kenyans get the sacred services of healthcare as enshrined in article 43 of our Constitution,” the KMPDU Sec. Gen said.
He was however clear that the two sides were “very far from having any agreement, but we have made a decision to give dialogue a third chance as a goodwill for Kenyans and as a good will for the government that has offered to engage on this matter,”
The move by KMPDU comes just a day after consultative meeting with Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha and Council of Governors. The Doctors confirmed that the discussions were part of the ongoing dialogue on resolving the implementation issues of our CBA 2017-2021 & working towards negotiations for the next CBA.
Some of the issues discussed include: Compliance with the court order on remuneration as per the CBA, Medical insurance, Posting of medical interns, Employment of doctors, Provision of PPEs, commodities and equipment, Postgraduate training, Formation of CBA implementation.
This coming at a time President William Ruto’s administration is proposing the formation of a Health Service Commission which handle various issues touching on the sector including the budget for the health sector.
Source: Nam News Network