Striking Doctor Confuses Kenyans As He Laments About Govt With Medic Jargon: "Haemorrhaging"

• Kenyan doctors have been on strike for nearly two months, demanding a monthly intern salary of KSh 206,000, among other requests
• A viral video featured a doctor’s satirical use of medical jargon to criticise the government, leaving many amused and others baffled
• He mixed both legal and medical terms, saying the government was suffering from 'fiscal schizophrenia'

A Kenyan doctor has left netizens scratching their heads after hilariously lamenting about the government during the ongoing doctors' strike.

Why are doctors striking?

Doctors have downed their tools for nearly two months now, demanding that the government pay interns KSh 206,000 monthly, among other requests.

Despite their refusal to sign a return-to-work agreement on May 3, the government moved forward with a deal to end the strike following a High Court ruling.

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha expressed her appreciation for healthcare workers who continued their duties during the strike organised by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists’ Union (KMPDU).

Doctor amuses with medical jargon

A recent video shared on X by @farhiyaabass shows a doctor lamenting about the government's approach to meeting their demands.

The medical professional’s use of complex jargon in criticising the government amused and perplexed citizens.

In his words:

"Our demands are not the jargon pronouncements of malcontent, but these are the sine qua non, in legal terms, of a healthcare ecosystem devoid of any pathological dysfunction."

He further criticised the government’s fiscal policies, saying:

"This government is now afflicted by a rare form of fiscal schizophrenia. On one hand, they are promoting a doctrine of penury and destitution, mocking our doctor interns to subsist to a budgetary shoestring thinner than a trichome, while on the other hand, they are haemorrhaging the public purse, a kind of haemorrhage that I can only compare to that of a ruptured aortic ane*rysm."

Reactions to doctor's jargon

The doctor's speech ignited several reactions from netizens, some impressed by his vocabulary and others confused about what he was saying.

@leenassir:

"Wah! Farhiya hebu translate hii kwa English so we understand. Sijashika kitu kabsa."

@WambuiChris:

"No wonder hawaskizani na Nakhumicha na Kuria."

@daguindd:

"Rudia tena we take notes bwana. Haemorrhaging the public purse... Mmh, mmh."

@BaroIsaacs:

"Huyu ni wakili ama daktari?"

@kenyaheadlights:

"Comrades power is stronger than electricity."

@jelon_achura:

"Nakhumicha, you've about 48 hours to respond!"

@AwadhAbuJamal:

"Seriously hata wenzake wengine hawamuelewi will the government get it. He's being silly. He should pass the message, not show off."

@puchi254:

"Leo tumeskia their prescription terminologies that they normally write to us."

@occurlg:

"I now know why the talks can't proceed. Language barrier."

@jamalAlKarim:

"Give them whatever they want already; in fact, add them more, because well."

@kiplangat_1:

"Hii labda waweke subtitles ndio Nakumicha asome pole pole."

Nurses threaten to join industrial action

Two days ago, nurses threatened to join the ongoing doctors' strike if the government does not honour and implement the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2017 within the next seven days.

Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) Secretary General Seth Panyako asserted that nurses have reached a point where they have lost confidence in the government unless it operates as a unified entity.

Panyako asserted that the government had altered its approach to employee engagements without prior notification to nurse leaders, a practice they strongly oppose.

Proofreading by Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke