The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has announced plans for a nationwide strike in 19 days as the feud with governors threatened to reach new heights.
In a fiery statement on Monday, October 6, the KMPDU condemned the Council of Governors (CoG) over its response to the alleged deaths of 136 newborns in Kiambu County, whose healthcare sector has been the subject of controversy for months.
The union accused governors of what they described as "callous insensivity" after the CoG dismissed media reports and KMPDU's claims about the deaths of the newborns in Kiambu.
In an earlier statement, CoG Chairperson and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi insisted that the Kiambu health system is functional and that doctors are on duty, claims which the KMPDU denies.
Governor Abdullahi, while vowing solidarity toward embattled Kiambu governor Kimani Wamatangi, dismissed the KMPDU's figures, saying the 136 deaths were not factual and were rumours being pushed by political forces trying to undermine devolution.
“The health function in Kiambu is functional, and we have doctors in all facilities and are on duty. We urge the Ministry of Health and KMPDU to stop politicising health and leave the level of the government with the mandate to run it. It can not be run from Afya House,” Governor Abdullahi said.
But in a rejoinder, the KMPDU slammed governors, accusing county bosses of detachment from the realities in the Kiambu health sector.
"For 131 days, patients, the very wananchi who pay your hefty salaries, have suffered in dilapidated facilities that bear the hallmarks of looting and supervised destruction of our public healthcare system. Your collective response to this humanitarian crisis is one of supreme aloofness and unforgivable hypocrisy," a statement from KMPDU read.
"The 47 Governors who comprise the CoG are well-known to enjoy the privileges of premium private healthcare and the liberty to freely fly out of the country for cuts and minor bruises, while the citizens you are sworn to protect are left to perish from birth."
In its set of demands, KMPDU demanded a public apology from the CoG and called for a full retraction of the council's earlier remarks.
KMPDU also called for an independent investigation into the reported deaths of the infants, as they also called on the President to dissolve the Kiambu County government, citing gross failure in managing its health services.
The strike, which has been slated for October 25, is aimed at 'defending the dignity of the medical profession 'and pushing for urgent reforms in the health care sector.
"Based on your collective action to perpetuate injustice and defend impunity, the Kenyan doctors too will take collective action in solidarity with their Kiambu colleagues through the issuance of a National Strike Notice on October 25 to protect the dignity of the medical profession and to defend the sanctity of life and healthcare in Kenya," the statement added.
