The government has now threatened to divert the Sh2.4 billion which was meant to pay medical interns on other emerging issues like floods.
This is even as the meeting held on Friday to unlock the stalemate and end the doctors’ strike ended unceremoniously after union officials failed to sign the Return to Work Formula.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court on Thursday directed that the agreement be signed and deposited in court on Monday by 9:30 am.
Head of Public Service who is also leading the Whole on the Nation Approach talks Felix Koskei has said the government will from next week compel the court to allow for any necessary action to be taken to alleviate the problem and end the suffering of Kenyans.
This, he said, will include compelling the doctors to go back to work or allowing the two levels of government to employ new medics.
“The money that was set aside for interns, the Sh2.4 billion that is sitting in the account because they have not reported, the more they stay, we shall reallocate that money to intervene on immediate urgent issues like floods and other things,” Koskei said.
“As we are depositing this agreement we are going to petition the court to allow us to take any necessary action to alleviate the problem.”
The governors have accused the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) of dishonesty in the process.
According to CoG Health Committee chair Muthomi Njuki, the doctors have no reason not to sign the agreement despite the majority of the issues they had raised having been addressed.
He said even though the governors had initially resolved not to victimise the striking doctors, they would not sit back and watch as patients suffer.
He maintained that 99.9 per cent of the issues had been addressed hence there was no point for the doctors to continue with the strike because of the pending 0.1 per cent.
“We had initially said that we will not victimise the doctors who are on strike, we remain committed to the course,” Njuki said.
He added:
“However it is not possible to remain like that forever, and therefore if we still do not have doctors back to work we cannot let our people to continue dying we will have no choice but to replace them.”
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha raised concern that the doctors had introduced new issues which were not previously there.
Nakhumicha said the union was for instance now demanding that the government pay salaries to self-sponsored registrars.
“At the last minute, they said their constitution does not allow them to sign documents at night. As a responsible government, we have a duty to ensure that patients are being served and that is what we will continue to do,” Nakhumicha said.
The union has however said it will not be coerced into signing what they have termed as an incomplete and one-sided Return-to-Work Formula.
KMPDU SG Davji Atellah has noted that the doctors will not succumb to the intransigence of the government nor accept to be intimidated.
Atellah said the patients have patiently waited for seven years for the CBA to be implemented, during which they have gone through endless consultations, negotiation and court processes whose outcomes employers never implement nor obey.
“We have been on strike for 52 days and it is clear that this government does not intend to negotiate in good faith. KMPDU will not be ambushed nor coerced to sign a document that goes against our CBA 2017,” Atellah said.
He said the union is preparing to go to court on Monday to put forward its position on the matter.