Doctors have given the government three months to address the deplorable state of healthcare in public hospitals or face a nationwide strike.
In a march to State House yesterday to petition the government on the state of healthcare in the country, the union leaders said they are worried that Kenyans are not getting basic health services in public facilities.
Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union secretary general Davji Atellah said they are concerned about the severe shortage of human resources, inadequacy of essential drugs and chronic shortage of medical supplies in public hospitals.
“These challenges have significantly affected the ability of our overstretched and demotivated health professionals to provide effective and timely medical services,” he said. “We are in a bad place in this country. That’s why we’ve come out to expose the genocide the government is perpetrating on doctors. Academic genocide. Career genocide.”
He told governors to stop reminding them that health is devolved when they are the cause of the death of the system.
“Today we want to remind the country that life and death are not devolved. That policy is not devolved. That standards are not devolved. That Treasury is not devolved. That legislation is not devolved and that suffering has never been devolved. What is devolved is corruption, where Kenyans today have to pay colossal sums of money to get any job opportunity in the counties,” Dr Atellah said.
He accused governors of damaging the health sector for 10 years, and added that the county public service boards have no capacity and no good intentions to improve healthcare. He stated that there was no need for the country to launch universal health coverage (UHC) for the fourth time without a roadmap for managing the health workforce.
“What is about to be launched is a programme for community health promoters, yet our own, where health workers are struggling, their numbers are dwindling, their salaries are unprotected, their training is unsupported, and their employment is not only unavailable but actually abused. We denounce this misplaced priority and call for a renewed focus on the employment of doctors,” he said.
“We are giving them three months, this is not a threat, we have been patient enough. Either they listen to what we say and do something, or we will have a national strike. This is the language they understand better,” Dr Atellah said.
Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha acknowledged the need to improve the state of health in the country.
“You are our critical stakeholders in the health sector and I acknowledge that you have come because you have problems. I have received your petition, allow us to go through that petition and then we will come to the table and agree,” she said.
Speaking on the same issue, Tharaka-Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, who is the chairperson of the Council of Governors (CoG) health committee, asked the doctors to be patient and promised that their demands would be met when resources were available.
“We are working on it. Let us put the lives of our people first. Give us a few more days. The economy is improving and we will definitely deliver on part of the promise. We may not be able to do 100 per cent, but we want you to be properly compensated when the funds are available,” he said.
CoG chairperson Anne Waiguru called on the union leaders to exercise patience. She asked the doctors to be sensitive to the country’s economic situation.
“The dollar is conspiring against us. No matter what we do, it does not respond. We are still hoping that it will. And that puts a huge burden on the national government,” she said. “To ask for a salary increase at this time... is not very reasonable. We urge you to be a little more patient like the rest of Kenyans who are struggling at this time. We are working hard day and night to see what we can do to ease this burden.”
Coming just a month before the launch of UHC, Ms Waiguru said the strike was wrong and would create a negative perception of the health sector. She pledged that CoG would support doctors to get opportunities for further training to improve the delivery of health services in all counties.
“The CoG has proposed legislation to seek a partnership formula that would provide a special fund to cater for training of health workers. This will go a long way in ensuring that professional capacity building is a continuous exercise in the country,” said Ms Waiguru.
