The agreement between the Ministry of Health and medical interns to post 552 interns has ignited infighting among the interns over who will secure these immediate positions.
Despite the consensus, infighting among the interns has surfaced, threatening to derail the process. These tensions emerged as interns, who camped outside Afya House on Monday night to push the government into action, struggled to decide who among them would be posted immediately.
Some of the 1,210 students have been waiting for over a year, leading to factions within their ranks as they vie for priority.
Kenyans.co.ke has learned that the Ministry and the interns are still negotiating the timeline for posting the remaining interns, adding to the delays.
On Wednesday, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha confirmed that interns would be posted in phases and paid Ksh70,000 per month. However, the leadership of the interns told Kenyans.co.ke that they will not take anything less that what is on their CBA.
"With the allocated funds, the Ministry will post at least 552 interns immediately, followed by the rest as more resources become available, which could be indefinite," Nakhumicha said in a statement.
Dr Elisha Harry Otieno, Secretary General of the Internship Liaison Committee, expressed frustration over the lack of agreement on selection criteria for the initial 552 postings. “We couldn’t agree on the criteria for the posting of the students,” he said.
“A person like me entered the University of Nairobi in September 2015 and graduated in July last year. Others entered private universities in 2018, and some from Maseno University graduated in May this year. Who gets selected first?”
Dr Otieno revealed that the interns have decided not to report to their postings until the Ministry commits to a timeline for the remaining 658 interns. “We will not report to any postings until the Ministry commits to when the other interns will be posted,” he declared.
Nakhumicha highlighted that the return-to-work agreement signed by the government and the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) on May 8 included a proposal to end the impasse.
“While KMPDU preferred an intern be posted based on the 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) rates of Ksh206,400 per month, the current fiscal realities and the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024 make this impossible,” she explained.
However, Dr Otieno stated that the interns will only take what is rightfully theirs and will hold out for the Ksh206,400 outlined in the 2017 CBA. To meet this pay, the ministry requires Ksh1.4 billion.
Nakhumicha warned that delays in intern deployment would affect all health cadres, not just medical trainees. “Numerous meetings have been held with significant progress towards consensus. Both parties agree on the need for immediate postings,” she noted.
Discussions between the Ministry and the interns are set to continue on Thursday, with hopes of resolving the stalemate by the end of the week. The interns have called for another protest outside the Ministry of Health on Monday, July 15.
