KMPDU issues 2-week strike notice for Moi Referral doctors
Union says major hospitals had implemented signed CBAs but MTRH had not
11d agoBY MATHEWS NDANYIRift-valley
KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah with branch official Dr Kamuzi Mule speaking after a meeting in Eldoret on January 19, 2025/FILE
Doctors at the Moi Referral Hospital (MTRH) will go on strike from midnight after talks to avert the boycott flopped.
The hospital management has been making last-minute efforts to avert the doctors strike called by the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union.
“We have been in day-long meetings, but the management is just giving us unworkable promises, and hence the strike is on as from midnight," said KMPDU official Dr. Kamunzi Mule said.
Dr Kamunzi, who is the KMPDU branch secretary, said the strike would be launched officially tomorrow by KMPDU Secretary General Dr Davji Atellah.
MTRH Chief Officer Dr Phillip Kirwa, however, says they are still in negotiations with KMPDU over grievances raised by the doctors.
“We are still in discussion with the doctors over the issues they have raised," Dr Kirwa said.
Kirwa is hopeful that they will reach an agreement with KMPDU.
“So far there has been nothing agreed on, and so strike notice stands," Mule said.
Dr Atellah issued a two-week strike notice raising more than eight demands, which they want the hospital to resolve to ensure quality services are offered at the hospital.
Among the concerns, the medics accuse the hospital of failing to remit their statutory deductions for over two years.
Dr Atellah said there was also alleged open discrimination and poor working conditions for the doctors at the hospital, which is the second largest referral facility in the country.
“If the hospital does not honor our demands, then all doctors, including consultants, will proceed on strike as from midnight February 4th, 2025," Dr Atellah said.
Dr Atellah held a meeting with doctors and KMPDU officials at the hospital two weeks ago before issuing the strike notice.
“We have doctors who have no medical cover and have not been given any promotions, yet the hospital has ignored their plight," Dr Atella said.
Dr Atellah has downplayed the MTRH board of management argument that the current predicament at the referral facility has been occasioned by budget cuts from the national exchequer.
However, Dr Kirwa insists that the hospital values the work of all staff, including doctors, and will ensure their welfare is taken care of at all times.
“Without the medics, we cannot offer services to Kenyans, and my promise is that we are engaging with the doctors and hope to agree with them," Kirwa said.