By Lauryne Akoth
Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya Coalition Party leader Raila Odinga has broken silence over the ongoing doctors’ strike.
Speaking at a presser on Thursday, Raila noted that the four-week strike has moved from bad to worse, and if something is not done the country could potentially face a full-blown crisis whereby all health workers down their tools.
He urged both the government and the doctors to engage in negotiations and implored the government to meet the doctors halfway while discussions progressed. He also urged the government to work on three key areas as a show of good faith for the end of the industrial action.
Raila emphasized that maintaining the medical interns’ salaries at Ksh.206,000 as outlined in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is among the measures that will help resolve the deadlock until a new agreement is reached.
“For the last seven years, interns have been earning Ksh.206,000 per month. These are actually the doctors running Level IV and many other public hospitals. There is no way an employer can reduce the salaries of employees mid-stream,” said Mr.Odinga, referring to the State’s proposal to slash medical interns’ pay to Ksh.70,000.
“We ask the government to reinstate the Ksh.206,000 pay for interns until the next CBA negotiations, which is around the corner, kicks in. In that next round of negotiations, both parties should put their cases on the table for consideration.” He further added.
While applauding county governments for paying salaries for doctors pursuing further studies, the opposition leader faulted the Ministry of Health for failing to pay the doctors’ fees since 2018. He noted that this failure has resulted in doctors being unable to graduate due to outstanding fees, and counties ceasing to pay salaries because doctors have remained in school for an extended period.
“I urge the Ministry of Health to immediately engage the doctors and their learning institutions with a view to clearing the fee balances and enable the doctors to complete their studies. The ministry must also engage counties to resolve the issue of pay for doctors who have overstayed in college through mistakes not of their own making.” Noted Raila.
Furthermore, Raila urged the Ministry of Health to work out a plan to pay stipends to doctors who opted against the fees by MOH and county salaries and privately funded their education while offering services to public hospitals.
Raila also faulted the Ministry of Health for failing to establish regulations that guarantee sustainable labour and protect doctors from exploitation through short-term contracts stretching to one or two months.
“Doctors are complaining about a free-for-all system where some employers have free will to decide what to pay. The result has been a very unequal system where doctors hired to do the same jobs, experience a huge variation in salaries. The medical profession is too important to be managed such casually. The ministry must intervene for the doctors,” he said.
Mr. Odinga additionally urged counties that have terminated the contracts of doctors who joined the nationwide strike to reconsider their decisions and reinstate them.
“I believe if these actions are taken in consultation with KMPDU, we’ll be able to avert the crisis that is building up in the health sector and pave the way for less antagonistic engagement. This is a crisis that has serious ramifications,” the opposition boss said.
“We want this crisis resolved. We had not spoken before, but we want the government to take notice because we cannot remain silent for a longer time when this persists. We ask them to act now and if they don’t, the consequences will be grave.” Concluded Raila.