Kenya doctors sign CBA with governors

Doctors and governors have inked a Collective Bargaining Agreement that ended the physicians' 100-day strike.

The deal, signed by the national government on June 30, will see the lowest-paid medic (intern) earn Sh212,989 and the highest-paid about Sh814,000.

14 DAYS

This came a week after the Health ministry, representing the national government, also signed the document.

Signed between the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and all the 47 counties, the four-year document is expected to be registered in the Employment and Labour Relations Court in the next 14 days.

Speaking at the signing ceremony at the offices of the Council of Governors in Nairobi, KMPDU Secretary-General Ouma Oluga said: “We are sincerely sorry to our patients but we know sometimes struggle brings something better.”

Dr Oluga was referring to the deaths, pain, suffering and inconvenience their industrial action caused patients seeking services at public hospitals.

The doctors also said that the signing of the CBA marked a new beginning not only for medics but also for patients across the country.

HOSPITALS

“When someone in the village goes to the hospital they should be able to get proper and dependable healthcare,” said KMPDU’s Chairman Samuel Oroko.

The CBA seeks to improve basic pay as well as provide doctors with perks such as call allowance.

The document is the second of three that will be signed between the medics and their three employers: the ministry of Health, referral hospitals like Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), considered semi-autonomous, and counties.

40 HOURS

On Thursday, Turkana, Vihiga and Kisumu counties led governors in signing the document, which for months was at the centre of the job boycott that began on December 5, 2016 and went down as Kenya’s longest national strike after independence.

Apart from the monetary gains, the document envisages better working conditions for medics in public hospitals.

Upon graduation and completion of an internship, a medical officer will be placed in Job Group M.

Considered the “donkeys of the hospitals” for the amount of work they do, the interns seem to have benefited a lot from the CBA.

They will be paid not later than a month and will only work for 40 hours a week.