KMPDU declares strike, urges intern doctors to withdraw labour

By Peter Ochieng

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists (KMPDU) Secretary General Davji Atellah has announced that doctors will commence a nationwide strike on in December, 2024.

Atellah said the strike has been necessitated by the failure by the government; to honour the Return-to-Work Formula (RTWF) they signed back on May 8, 2024.

Addressing the press on Wednesday afternoon, he said there will be no room for negotiations this time round, once they down their tools.

"We are saying this without any fear of contradiction that when we call strike nobody should come to us and sell to us the aspect of goodwill or the aspect of negotiation because seven months is far too long for somebody to keep on making promises. It will be time to implement the agreements that were signed and adopted as court orders."

"We know it will be a sad situation at that time but the government is entirely responsible because they are failing to honour agreements and they are failing to honour court orders," he added.

The SG said President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration will take the blame for the innocent Kenyans who will lose their lives, during our total shutdown that is coming in the month of December.

The announcement comes a day after the death of Francis Njuki, an intern doctor who until his demise on Tuesday was working at the Thika Level Four hospital in Kiambu County.

He reportedly committed suicide over difficult working working conditions.

His death came two months after Dr Desiree Moraa, who worked at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital committed suicide over similar reasons.

The SG stated that the government was banking on the intern doctors to implement Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program, while subjecting them to unfavorable working conditions.

"We are saddened by the two lives that we have lost; these are children of persons, these are persons that are dedicated to serve Kenyans. And because of the doing of the government, they have decided erratically to change what has existed for the last seven years without any goodwill or good intention to solve it."

He urged intern doctors to withdraw their labour from public hospitals immediately, until their grievances are addressed.