Doctors-strike talks take a break

Officials of the doctors union and the Health ministry have taken a break in the ongoing mediation talks to help end the medics’ strike.

The recess is meant to give the government and the Kenya Medical practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union time to reconsider their positions on sticky issues.

PROGRESS

This is according to the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) who are leading the mediation.

“The mediation team wishes to inform the public that progress has been made on various aspects of the dispute,” LSK and KNCHR said in a statement.

“However, there are certain outstanding issues that are still pending.”

The mediators said they were preparing a progress report that they would present to a three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

FREEDOM

The parties in the dispute, the statement said, had re-affirmed to the confidentiality of the talks.

Judges Jamila Mohamed, Wanjiru Karanja and Hannah Okwengu on February 15 allowed the doctors' union officials, who had been jailed for contempt, to walk to freedom so that they could resume talks with their employer.

The majority of the health workers are employed by the county governments while a few working in national referral hospitals, including the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, are on the payroll of the national government.

The doctors were set free following an agreement reached between lawyers representing KMPDU and the council of governors, who had the health workers sent to prison.

2013 CBA

The appellate court judges asked KNCHR and LSK to lead the two parties to reach a return-to-work formula that was expected to be presented in court on February 23.

That effectively meant doctors would give up the 2013 collective bargaining agreement they were pushing their employer to effect.

However, the doctors have maintained that will not end their job boycott, which entered Day 79 on Tuesday, unless the CBA is implemented.

With both parties committing to keep the outcome of their deliberations confidential, it has been hard to know the progress of the talks.

But the report that will be filed in court tomorrow is likely to shed some light on the matter.