Give us money to pay doctors: Governors
Council of Governors chairman Peter Munya addresses journalists on the sidelines of the 4th Devolution Conference in Naivasha on March 9, 2017. Governors have said the national government should provide funds to pay doctors who went on strike. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The doctors have maintained that they must be paid their salary arrears as the strike was protected by law.
- Mr Munya invited the Office of the President to discuss how they would find the resources to pay the medics.
County governments are not able to pay doctors for the three months that they were on strike because the National Treasury has not released the monies, the Council of Governors has said.
In a letter addressed to Mr Joseph Kinyua, the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, the chair of the Council of Governors Peter Munya said that counties “have no problem paying the salary and allowances” only if the resources were provided.
This complaint comes a few weeks after President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the county and national governments to pay doctors for the three months that they were on strike.
NO MONEY
The doctors began their strike on December 5 last year paralysing the public health sector.
The doctors have since maintained that they must be paid their salary arrears as the strike was protected by law.
The Ministry of Health, on the other hand, made it clear that it would not pay them for services they did not offer, forcing the President to intervene.
Mr Kenyatta’s letter was also addressed to the Cabinet secretaries for Health Cleopa Mailu and National Treasury, Henry Rotich.
On Saturday, Mr Munya, who is also the Meru governor, blamed the National Treasury for failing to release the funds to county governments so that they could pay the doctors their arrears.
“However, note that the National Treasury has to make available the said resources to enable counties to pay as required in the letter,” he said in the letter.
DEVOLUTION IMPEDIMENTS
He added that once the governors receive the said resources from the National Treasury, they will proceed to pay.
He invited the Office of the President to discuss how they would find the resources to pay the medics.
It has not been established how much this is going to cost the taxpayer, but health experts noted this could be about Sh2 billion.
Some counties, however, have begun paying their medics.
The issue was one of the many disagreements the governors have had with the government about health financing, since devolution of health services in 2013.
FREE MATERNITY
During the strike, Mr Munya lamented that a lot of responsibilities were placed on the counties to deliver health yet the money was always hoarded at the Ministry of Health.
“You want me to deliver health and yet you hold on to the money”, he said.
Complaints from the Ministry of Health and the national governments have centered on poor or inappropriate management of money at the county level.
Last year, some hospitals complained of having not received the conditional grants meant for referral facilities as well as refunds for free maternity.
The money left the national government to the county treasury but never reached the hospitals.
