Huduma Centres and government offices risk being shut indefinitely from Tuesday next week as civil servants and doctors threaten to strike.
According to Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDU) Secretary General Davji Atellah, doctors and civil servants will be on strike on Tuesday, March 18.
“If these matters are not resolved, we're not just going to resolve to just demonstrations and protests; we're actually going to issue a strike notice on that 18th and proceed on strike, which will involve all the doctors and all the civil servants,” Atellah insisted.
However, if the government will not have met their demands by then, doctors and government workers will issue a strike notice on the same day and proceed on a full-blown strike.
KMPDU and the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS) have been joined at the heap in calling for the return of the civil servants' health scheme, the Public Officers Medical Fund (POMF).
POMSF is a medical cover for civil servants under SHA aimed at providing comprehensive medical coverage for public servants and their dependents. This scheme is designed to ensure that public officers receive additional medical benefits beyond the standard social health insurance package.
KMPDU and civil servants are demanding the restatement of the medical cover under the Social Health Authority's share and payment of 2.75 per cent deduction meant for their health insurance.
“The access to health care for doctors, for public servants, for civil servants is a right. And the fact that it's not a free service that we are asking for, but it's a service that we are asking based on the finances that we have been deducted,” asserted Attelah on Friday.
KMPDU says medics currently pay between Ksh6,000 and Ksh9,000 for health services.
According to Attelah, on Tuesday, doctors and civil servants will hold a mega demonstration from the Kenyatta National Hospital to the Social Health Authority at Upper Hill to submit their petition.
The group will then proceed to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Service, and then to the Treasury to air their grievances.
“The ineffectiveness in running the government is not our business as workers. Ours is to do our jobs as we have been trained,” Atteh said.
“We are expecting the Huduma Centers to be closed. We are expecting those in different offices that are serving different services to be out because you have to choose whether to be in those offices where you are underappreciated, where you're not valued, or to be in the street to ensure that this money that has been deducted for you, you can access health care, and your family can access health care,” KMPDU asserted.
