The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has criticised the Ministry of Health after a payslip belonging to the late doctor Stephen Mogusu was leaked online.
KMPDU Secretary General Chibanzi Mwachonda accused the ministry of violating the doctor's right to privacy and using the payslip to mislead Kenyans.
“It is irresponsible to misinform the public and breach the private and confidential information of your employees,” the union boss fired in a tweet.
He explained that the payslip contained information on salary arrears owed to Dr. Mogusu for four months and not his monthly earnings as had been reported by bloggers on social media.
“The payslip you have released is four months salary arrears that our deceased colleague did not get to receive while alive. It was processed while he was in ICU,” Dr. Mwachonda claimed.
Social media had been awash with debate about the information with many arguing that it was either exaggerated or forged.
The issue of doctors' pay was reignited after Mogusu's death and further escalated by the last message he sent to his colleagues, in which he echoed their grievances.
"My dear colleagues, let me take this opportunity to admonish you today to get your pay or get out while you can with your health and life intact," Mogusu stated.
At the time, Mogusu was fighting for his life in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, stated that it was improper that Mogusu's employer, the national government, had not paid doctors for months.
Deputy President William Ruto has also weighed in regarding the timely payment of Kenyan doctors in response to ODM leader Raila Odinga who had asked doctors not to go on strike.
“It is reckless for anyone to say the political matters including the proposed constitutional reforms (under Building Bridges Initiative) are dealt with before the issues raised by health workers are addressed yet we are in the middle of a pandemic,” Ruto criticized.
“Our focus should be on equipping health workers with PPEs and pay them their salaries and allowances. County governments should prioritize and deal with the issues raised by doctors, nurses, clinical officers and other cadres of medics who are in the frontline fighting Covid-19 outbreak,” he added.
