Nyanza doctors threaten to go on strike if non-practice allowance is scrapped

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Nyanza branch has threatened that its members will resort to industrial action if a proposal by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to scrap their non-practice allowance is adopted.

KMPDU Nyanza branch Secretary General Dr. Aggrey Orwenyo, in  a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday, likened the proposal as a dare by the government to medics to down their tools.

“This government directive, through the SRC, to county governments was unequivocal and sufficient strike notice on our behalf to the same governments to withdraw the services from all the public hospitals,” stated Dr. Orwenyo.

“Should the directive be effected in our payslips, doctors will immediately withdraw their services without any further notice.”

Dr. Orwenyo added that the proposal was a mere ploy by the government to put medics at a disadvantage ahead of the looming negotiations for the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“We find this as a tactic by the government not to fully commit herself in the negotiations with regard to the doctors 2021 - 2025 CBA,” noted the union boss.

“It is in bad faith, and in the long run, patients will be the ones who'll suffer at the expense of such reckless directives, of which key stakeholders such as our union were not consulted.”

The remarks comes in line with those of KMPDU national Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah, who recently rubbished the proposal terming it as “retrogressive” and aimed at denying the doctors their “contractual earnings and remuneration unilaterally through a non-consultative means.”

The union, led by Dr. Atellah, has since further dragged SRC to court saying the non-practice allowance was introduced in order to compensate medics working in the public sector for the income they forego, hence putting them at par with their colleagues in the private sector.

He argues that the non-practice allowance is fully contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between the union and the government, through the Ministry of Health, on June 30, 2017.