The ongoing doctors' strike has left patients in public hospitals stranded. The doctors demand the full implementation of the 2017 CBA and the prompt posting of intern doctors.
The KMPDU leadership has stated that it will attend the meeting but will not consent to mediation as proposed by the government. The doctors are also requesting that the conference find ways to commit to paying them salary increment arrears for the previous seven years.
For the fourth day, doctors stayed away from hospitals as they fulfilled their threat to drop their tools and demand that the government solve their grievances as specified in the collective bargaining agreement struck by the doctors and the government in 2017.
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The Ministry of Health has given an olive branch to the doctors during the strike by scheduling a mediation conference today.
The doctors say they will attend the meeting, but the agenda will not include mediation.
The doctors insist they will accept nothing less than the immediate placement of medical interns in health facilities. They believe that the interns should not only be posted.
The doctors went on strike last Thursday, demanding that the government post medical interns, return money for doctors doing postgraduate courses, settle wage increment arrears dating back to 2017, and fully implement the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The physicians have stated that their strike will continue even after the discussions begin tomorrow, and they have threatened to withhold even the most basic services currently provided if the government does not hear and accede to their requests.
