Secretary General Davji Atellah of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has insisted that his organization return to work once their demands are met, despite the nationwide doctors' strike.
Speaking at a gathering of the union's national representatives in Kirinyaga on Monday, Atellah charged that county governments and the Ministry of Health, under the direction of Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, were intimidating physicians by threatening to fire them.
"Nobody should think they are more important or more Kenyan than us so that we can be stopped from fighting for our rights. As leaders, we are ready for anything… until they implement the CBA," the KMPDU leader said.
The COG Chairperson, Anne Waiguru, granted county governments the authority to discipline physicians who do not promptly return to their jobs last week.
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Waiguru, the governor of Kirinyaga, stated that medical professionals must act kindly and return to work to preserve life.
But in the battle for doctors' employment terms, Atellah declared on Monday that they are prepared "to lose everything." He stated that they would not give in to county governments' pressure.
"There is no rule in Kirinyaga that is not there in all the other places in Kenya," he said. "We will not watch as the minister or governors trample upon and mutilate this CBA."
Johnson Sakaja of Nairobi is one of the governors who has threatened to take action against the striking doctors. On March 21, Sakaja gave doctors a 12-hour ultimatum to return to work, but his request was ignored.
In a television interview on March 20, CS Nakhumicha threatened to fire the striking medics, stating, "They have been ordered by the court to suspend the strike; choices have consequences."
As the doctors' strike enters its nineteenth day on Monday, Kenya's public health system is in the throes of a crisis.
Since March 14, medical professionals have refused to work due to the government's inability to post medical interns and the health ministry's disregard for the medics' 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) terms.
The Health Ministry and the doctors' union have not reached a consensus during their talks because the medical community believes the government needs to follow the court's orders.
