Media, it seems, should brace Kenyans for a gloomy festive season, amid a looming health industrial strike by doctors.
Even as the country’s health sector is yet to settle after the switch from National Hospital Insurance Fund to Social Health Insurance Fund, health workers recently announced their intention to strike, in what they termed as the government’s failure to address their grievances.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) convened a special delegates conference on November 30, and reported the bone of contention is the unmet 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), including medical interns’ salaries, who form the bulk of service providers in the public hospitals across the country.
The 7,000-plus KMPDU members, still mourning five colleagues reported to have died under the pressure of tough working conditions, gave the government a 21-day strike notice to have their grievances addressed.
This would mean, come December 22 through Christmas and New Year season, Kenyans would have public hospitals minus doctors.
The Nation in a story titled, ‘Doctors planned strike to coincide with festivities’ published on December 4, quoted KMPDU secretary general Davji Atellah as saying, the death of five doctors was due to work-stress hardships and lack of insurance cover.
Media reported deaths by suicide of some of the young medics, with one of them succumbing due to low sugar levels following long hours at work without meals or rest.
Despite the Ministry of Health releasing Sh950 million on November 30 to cater for intern doctors’ one month pay, the interns staged a protest outside the Ministry of Health headquarters on December 5 to demand their three months’ pay.
Prior to the KMPDU presser to address the crisis facing medical and health workers across the country, the medical professionals at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital had announced they would strike to protest at the management’s failure to address their grievances, including poor working conditions, unfulfilled terms of employment and sexual harassment.
Their grievances, including demand to have the CEO replaced, appeared to have reached the highest echelons of government, with State House issuing a press statement that the hospital’s board of management had been disbanded forthwith and the CEO replaced.
Media, as a neutral player, should keep an eye on this serious matter while pressuring the government to resolve it within good time to save Kenyans’ lives.
As the circus between medics and national and county governments escalates, media should not lose focus on the plight of millions of Kenyans, who added to the burden of current economic hardship, are now at crossroads of an imminent health crisis.
Experience of vulnerability of most Kenyans to a disrupted health sector should ‘nudge’ journalists to keep pushing for answers to avert another health disaster in the country.
Among them are thousands of elderly and chronically ill patients on routine doctor’s list, and whose relatives must dig deeper in the pocket to keep life afloat for them as they attend private consultation.
Journalists have an urgent matter to persistently interrogate Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa on her rapid action plan to resolve these medics’ grievances and avert a health crisis.
Journalists should keep a close eye on her to ensure no Kenyan will be subjected to untimely death, or mourning due to the loss of a loved one.
The KMPDU stating that counties have declined to honour the CBA plan signed as a return-to-work formula for health workers, and that the signing was meant to trick medics back to work, should get journalists interrogating the Ministry of Health and governors’ body regarding the end to this deep-seated matter.
The counter accusations between various arms of government do very little to make health services easily available, accessible and affordable to the majority of Kenyans, contrary to what devolution intended.
In the looming crisis, journalists should not relent in holding public health authorities to account.
