Kenyan Bishops appeal to doctors to end strike action

The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops(KCCB) has appealed to striking doctors to resume essential medical duties to save lives.

“We appeal to their conscience to be able to resume essential medical duties, even to a limited extent as the Union continues negotiations with the relevant Government organs,” said the bishops in a press statement released this week.

In the statement titled, “The Poor are dying,” the bishops noted that the on-going grandstanding and chest thumping by the Doctors’ Union on one hand and the National and County Governments on the other, enhances the hopelessness of the sad and worrisome situation being experienced in Kenya today.

Doctors in public hospitals in Kenya went on strike on 5 December 2016 over the Governments’ failure to honour a Collective Bargaining Agreement of 2013 that would have given them a 300 percent salary increments.

The doctors’ strike has led to the loss of lives and suffering among patients who cannot afford private hospitals.

“We, the Catholic Bishops of Kenya, continue to express our deep concern over the on-going Doctors’ strike that continues to cause Kenyans unimaginable pain, misery and suffering, including immense loss of life,” the bishops said.

While thanking other healthcare workers in the private and public sector who have continued their services despite the call to down their tools, the bishops noted the contributions of non-state medical institutions that have gone out of their way to help.

The Bishops have availed themselves for mediation and have urged the County Governments to create an environment suitable for dialogue in order to bring an end to this stalemate.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) recently brushed off attempts by the national and county governments to force them back to work.

A Kenyan court handed down a one-month suspended jail term to union officials over the doctors’ strike.

The medics have so far rejected a 40 percent pay rise offer from the government, demanding the full implementation of the 2013 CBA. Earlier the government threatened to fire all striking medical personnel if they do not return to work.

 (CISA in Nairobi)

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