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KENYA: Dead Bodies and Agonized Families Paint Public Hospitals as Doctors' Strike Enters Day 4
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Submitted by IQ4News on Thu, 08/12/2011 - 9:42am
By Joab Apollo
‘’My God please help me. My son is going to die. God help my son”. Those are the words of a middle aged mother at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital whose son is fighting for his life after he collapsed at home.
The ailment is unknown to the family; the effect of industrial boycott by doctors in all the public hospitals in Kenya. The medical practitioners continue to demonstrate in the streets of Nairobi with a slogan “Solidarity forever and the doctors must be paid!”
What began as a mere threat has now turned into a full-blown tornado with patients, most in preventable conditions, bearing the brunt.
Pictures of dead bodies in wards and agonized family members of the sick paint public hospitals in Kenya as the boycott enters its fourth day.
The work is overwhelming for medical students who have come in handy as the government retreats to damage control tactics.
The doctors are demanding a 300 percent pay rise, better working conditions and improved facilities in hospitals.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has maintained that its members will not return to work unless the government tables an agreeable return-to-work formula that will see them being paid in tandem with their workload and academic qualifications.
They called upon the public to take the sick to private hospitals for medical services.
KMPDU chairman, Dr. Victor Ngani said that the government has a hands off attitude towards the health sector that has seen many professionals in the field of medicine seek greener pastures in other countries.
“Six months ago, we were 2,900 doctors in the country. Now just six months later, we are 2,334 and this is acceptable” Ngani, said during a press briefing.
The union believes that even if the doctors were to be paid all their dues, a lot still needs to be tackled in public hospitals.
The doctors say that they are overworked and underpaid, a fact that has forced them to take to the streets despite deep empathy for the patients.
Kenya has about 5000 doctors in both public and private hospitals and the facilities are wanting.
In most health facilities in the country, patients lie on the floor due to the overwhelming number. On Tuesday, the Doctors Union rejected a government offer of up to Ksh. 50,000 monthly allowances saying they were not consulted in the announcement made by Assistant Minister for Medical Services Kambi Kazungu.
On Wednesday, the government announced it had increased the amount allocated to doctors’ allowances from Sh1.35 billion to Sh1.9 billion for the first phase and Sh5.2 billion for the second one.
The first phase begins on December 1 and the second one will be implemented in July. However, the doctors refused to accept the offer with some threatening to resign next week.
Kazungu called on the doctors to understand the effect of their boycott to hospitals. He urged them to work for negotiations to continue.
“I call upon the Doctors to understand the situation. I have been calling the minister for finance every moment with out rest to look into how we can avert the crisis,” he said.
The strike comes against the backdrop of a string of industrial actions that now appears to be a norm in Kenya as inflation pushes many to the wall.
In August, teachers downed their tools while last month, lecturers in all the public universities snubbed work. The teachers were paid their dues while talks are under way to honour the demands by the dons. Now, the Central organization of trade Unions in Kenya (COTU) has given the government a one week ultimatum to increase the civil servants pay, failure to which they will take to the streets.
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