Medics Give Government 7-Day Ultimatum

Medics have threatened to down their tools over pending salaries occasioned by the failure of the government to disburse funds to counties.

Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union (KMPDU) secretary general Davji Atellah in a statement on Tuesday, April 11 gave the government a 7-day ultimatum to disburse the funds noting that any county that shall not have paid the salaries should not expect the health workers to report.

“Within 7 days, counties that shall have not paid the salaries and statutory deductions should not expect healthcare workers to report on duty. It is only through this, and various other recommendations made by the union to the national government in the recent past, that we - as a country - will be able to fix healthcare and make it work for all Kenyans,” the KMPDU boss stated.

Atellah stated only a few counties have managed to pay medics after having arrangements with banks for overdrafts and loans.

“It should worry any Kenyan of goodwill that close to 40 counties have neither paid healthcare workers their salaries nor remitted statutory deductions. The few that have managed to pay salaries have reported having arrangements with banks for overdrafts and loans,” he stated.

Atellah further demanded that the healthcare functions be moved from counties to the national government so that the medics would be paid from a central point.

“The unions demand that the government establishes a mechanism to pay healthcare workers directly from a central point,” Atellah added.