No money to meet your demands! Mbarire to striking medics

Embu County governor Cecily Mbarire has stated the county can’t meet the demands put forward by the striking Embu County Doctors under KMPDU due to lack of funds.

While speaking in Embu level 5 hospital on Wednesday, Mbarire urged the doctors who downed their tools at midnight to resume their duties as they engage in talks to find solutions for their grievances.

She said the County budget has been trying to settle the former debts they inherited from the previous regime and thus can’t meet their current demands.

“We don’t have enough money to fund their demands because we have been tackling inherited debts amounting to close to half a billion,” said Mbarire.

Mbarire said among the doctors’ demands, promotion won’t be her priority and instead will consider equipping the health facilities with the needed resources as she tries to push for a conclusion.

The County governor said it would be a disgrace to promote doctors and leave patients without required medicines.

She said her government has obtained the services from private doctors to assist in the management of the current health crisis.

“We have been in continuous contact with contractual doctors who have arrived and some coming to help keep things going. Please our patients keep calm,” Mbarire pleaded.

She affirmed that the health services within the County will be operating as usual despite the current situation and only Embu level 5 will experience slowed services due to the lack of the usual 35 doctors within the facility.

Embu County Doctors on Tuesday accused the County government of failing to meet the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which was due to be implemented in 2017 and 2021.

“Despite giving out 21 days strike notice concerning matters of promotion matters of non-payment statutory deductions, the conversation of Doctors from inferior contractual agreements that have been put forward by Embu County government none of these issues has been addressed, starting tonight we are closing all the Hospitals tonight and no health services will be provided," said Dr Dennis Mugambi, the chairman Kenya Medical Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Eastern region.

Mugambi, further said the County health sector suffers from understaffing with only 96 doctors against his preferred 300 doctors.

The doctors decried poor relationships with credit lenders who they have failed to honour their debts despite being deducted from their salaries.

Danson Gitari a Consultant Physician at the Embu level 5 hospital said most of them have been listed by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) as loan defaulters.

"We are being auctioned by our lenders since our loans are not being serviced, we shall stop at nothing this time until they meet our demands," he said.