Cabinet Told KSh 70k Salary For Intern Doctors Is Enough As Strike Effects Persist

• The Cabinet said that only four out of the 19 demands raised by the doctors' union concerned the national government, while the rest concerned the county governments
• According to the government, the medical workers' demand for KSh 206,000 was unsustainable, thus the stalemate
• The Cabinet was told that the government could only afford a KSh 70,000 monthly stipend for intern doctors

Michael Ollinga is a journalist at TUKO.co.ke with over 10 years of experience covering courts and crimes, special reports, and current affairs in Kenya.

President William Ruto's Cabinet agreed that the Kenya Kwanza government could not sustain paying intern doctors a KSh 206,000 monthly salary.

Doctors' strike in Kenya

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) called for a nationwide strike in mid-March to demand, among other things, deployment and better payment for intern doctors.

On Monday, April 22, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, who is leading negotiations with KMPDU, told Citizen TV that they had resolved 18 out of 19 of the latter's demands and expected the medics to sign a return-to-work agreement on Tuesday, April 23.

However, KMPDU secretary general Davji Atellah said they would not sign a return-to-work agreement unless the remaining single demand on payment of intern doctors is resolved.

He told the government to consider all other agreements null if the final demand is unmet.

Intern doctors' salaries in Kenya

The government, however, seems unmoved by the demand for a KSh 206,000 monthly salary for intern doctors, sticking by its KSh 70,000 monthly salary offer.

In a Cabinet meeting that President William Ruto chaired on Tuesday, April 23, the executive agreed that KMPDU's KSh 206,000 demand was unsustainable.

According to a Cabinet brief that TUKO.co.ke saw, only four out of the 19 demands by KMPDU concerned the national government.

Out of the four demands, the Cabinet was briefed that only one remained unresolved. The demand for KSh is 206,000 in salaries for intern doctors.

Cabinet brief on doctors' strike

"The Cabinet was briefed on the ongoing industrial action by healthcare workers. The members were informed that 19 issues were in contention, but only four concerned the National Government: basic salary arrears, scholarships for postgraduate studies, medical insurance, and stipends for medical interns," read the brief.

According to the brief, the Cabinet was adamant that KMPDU's demand was unsustainable and could not continue paying KSh 206,000 to intern doctors.

The brief added, "The Cabinet endorsed the government directive to set the internship stipend at KSh70,000, saying other interns in public service are paid KSh25,000."

Atellah blamed the government for lacking the goodwill to implement the Collective Bargaining Agreement, saying the interns' salary was close to what Cabinet Secretaries earn as entertainment allowance.

The back and forth between the medics and the government is on its 42nd day as patients in public hospitals continue to suffer, and others die due to a lack of doctors.

A Kenyan pastor, Tony Kiamah, could not hold his tears back while narrating the story of his colleague who lost his mother because there were no doctors in the public hospitals that he could afford.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke