Afya House and doctors union fail to agree on posting of interns

The Ministry of Health and the doctors union have failed to agree on the posting of 1,210 interns, some of whom have been protesting outside Afya House since Monday.

The group comprises 72 dental, 849 medical and 289 pharmacy trainees.

The law requires them to undergo internship training for 13 months before they are licensed to practice.

On Tuesday, Davji Atellah, the secretary general of Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), absolved Afya House of blame, saying the ministry is also being let down.

“The MoH are also frustrated, disappointed and disillusioned. We’ve been having lots of meetings from last week Tuesday but we have not made a breakthrough,” he said.

Health CS Susan Nakhumicha is said to have been holding meetings with the Treasury to get funds for interns without success.

Davji said the ministry had proposed 552 interns be posted first because there was money available for that number. But the union opposed the plan.

“It is not possible to only post doctors who graduated through JAB (Joint Admissions Board), it's not possible to post doctors based on graduation date, there was no way to allow batch posting. We were not of the opinion of posting in batches,” Davji said.

He said another meeting to resolve the posting did not take place on Tuesday as planned. More meetings will be held on Wednesday.

He said the ministry has threatened there will be no discussions if the interns continue protesting and sleeping outside Afya House.

“So doctors we must restrategise, we must know and take the next action. As KMPDU, we are getting to meeting the national advisory council and see what next,” he said.

The interns, numbering a little more than 100, started their protest on Monday. A few of them slept outside Afya House that night, vowing to do so daily until they are posted.

At the heart of the standoff, is how much stipend they should be paid. 

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in April directed medical interns be paid a Sh70,000 stipend and not the Sh206,000 that past interns got.

SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich emphasised the principles of fairness and equity, saying the highest-paid intern in the government receives Sh25,000.

In April, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said the government had secured Sh2.4 billion to facilitate the immediate deployment and posting of the 2023-24 cohort of medical and dental student interns, based on the Sh70,000 stipend.

Consequently, the Ministry of Health issued posting letters to all the 1,210 interns on April 10.

Public Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni said the posting letters were emailed to the interns and they should report to their stations within five days.

However, the KMPDU advised the interns not to report.

The union then sued to have the SRC notice declared illegal. The case will be heard in September.

When the 56-day doctors strike ended on May 8, the Ministry of Health said it could still not post interns – the main reason the doctors went on strike – because of the two cases that had been lodged against the SRC.

KMPDU and the ministry agreed the doctor interns would have to wait for 60 days for posting. The days lapsed on Monday this week.

In a joint statement on Monday, the interns said the delay in posting has caused them immense psychological suffering.

"We have been at home for two years now. Our knowledge is decaying, and we are losing opportunities to advance our lives. The psychological suffering we endure is immense. Without a licence, we cannot practice medicine," they said.

They emphasised their right to be posted within 30 days of completing their studies as stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement between the Ministry of Health and the KMPDU.

They made two demands.

Their first demand is for immediate posting of all interns with payments made in batches as resources become available.

The second option they said if the first is not met, they will occupy the Ministry of Health headquarters until their pleas are heard.

The interns rejected claims by the ministry that tight fiscal space necessitates posting in batches.