Mandera doctors end strike after striking deal with county

Some of the doctors from Mandera County hold hands on July 4, 2019 when they announced the start of their strike. The strike has now been called off after KMPDU signed a deal with the county government. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The KMPDU boss said the county leadership has agreed to meet all their demands.
  • Doctors in Mandera issued a strike notice on June 19, 2019 and proceeded to strike on July 4.
  • Doctors in the county will now enjoy better transport services.

Doctors in Mandera have called off their strike after six days of agony in county hospitals in the far flung county.

Dr Ibrahim Maalim, the North Eastern Chapter Secretary of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentist Union (KMPDU) Wednesday confirmed the new development, stating that a new agreement had been reached.

“We called off the strike last evening (Tuesday) after striking an agreement with the Mandera County government. We are all back on duty now,” he said.

MEET DEMANDS

The KMPDU boss said the county leadership has agreed to meet all their demands starting the end of this month.

“We signed a return to work formula in which the county government agreed to promote doctors starting the end of this month. They have [also] committed to ensure our security,” he said.

According to Dr Maalim, Governor Ali Roba’s administration agreed to release doctors for postgraduate studies but only on merit and need.

He said the county promised to deal with issues of remunerations and other allowances after consulting the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Doctors in Mandera issued a strike notice on June 19, 2019 and proceeded to strike on July 4.

SIGNED DEAL

County Chief Officer for Health Hassan Mohamed confirmed the signing of a return to work formula with the doctors.

“We have agreed with doctors to form a collective bargaining agreement implementation committee that is in place and we shall be promoting all doctors who are due from the end of this month,” he said.

Mr Hassan confirmed that the county government has agreed to allow doctors, only on merit and need, to proceed on study leave.

“We shall only release our doctors to go for studies based on need, merit and prevailing human resource training policies,” he said.

TRANSPORT

Doctors in the county will now enjoy better transport services after they complained for being ferried in Toyota Probox cars.

He said more doctors will be recruited based on available resources and need.

Attempts to hire more doctors flopped last month after the cancellation of a county staff recruitment exercise that is now being investigated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

Ten more doctors were to be hired to add to the 38 already serving in Mandera.

Mr Mohamed said the county administration will not victimise any doctor who participated in the six-day strike.