KMPDU issues doctors’ strike notice

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has issued a strike notice, after the government failed to post 1,215 medical interns.

KMPDU secretary general Dr Davji Atellah, who was speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 stated that they plan to start the strike on March 1, 2024.

According to the doctors’ union, the government has not posted medical interns in the past one year.

“We need 50,000 doctors to achieve the 1:1000 WHO standards of doctor to patient ratio,” said Dr Atellah.

A section of KMPDU officials as they issued a strike notice on December 8, 2023 in Kilifi. Photo: TV47

He added that the Kenya Kwanza government may fail to achieve its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda if qualified medical doctors are not hired on time.

The KMPDU secretary general questioned the government’s commitment to universal healthcare when newly graduated doctors remain unemployed months after graduating from medical schools.

Meanwhile, over 200 medical graduates from universities across Kenya gathered at the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) center in Nairobi on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 to protest the delayed internship placements promised by the Ministry of Health.

We cannot achieve UHC if qualified doctors are not hired. We need 50,000 doctors to achieve the 1:1000 WHO standards of doctor to patient ratio… 1,215 medical interns have not been posted for over a year. pic.twitter.com/kGubgFU2Np

— TV47 (@tv47news) February 20, 2024

“We’ve spent 8 years studying medicine but now we are not hired, this is unfair, we’re just at home doing nothing. We demand to be posted,” stated one of the medical graduates.

The frustrated graduates, some who traveled from as far as Maseno University, demanded immediate internship postings.

Some of the medical graduates who spoke to TV47 explained that the long wait was affecting them both psychologically and financially.