Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has asked the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) to stop politicising the death of Dr Stephen Mogusu.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV, Kagwe acknowledged that it was unfortunate that the family had to lose their son at such a tender age.
He, however, accused the union of politising the doctor's death, terming it as 'disgusting'.
"When the union was saying that the doctor had not been paid. Yes, there was a delay in their payment given the terms of their engagement, but we did pay them and we have paid them.
"I can separate the issue of genuine mourning and genuine feelings and the issue of using the young man's death for union political purposes, and that I condemn, it is disgusting," Kagwe stated.
Just like other institutions, the CS stated that the government had also faced adverse economic challenges following the pandemic.
"It is wrong to keep someone's salary because they deserve it, but you and I also know that the circumstances in which we have been operating are not the best.
"Things are not following as they used to before, and it is hypocritical for people to look at the government as a very separate institution. We have our challenges, we are not perfect, we have made mistakes," Kagwe admitted.
Mogusu was a youthful medic serving in Machakos County under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) pilot programme
He died of Covid-19 on Monday, December 7.
Before his death, he had expressed his frustration with the mismanagement in the health sector that has seen a section of doctors serve for nearly five months without a salary.
"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.
"Usually I would write and write but today I just want to say save your miserable selves from those institutions, you will live to earn another day,"Mogusu stated.
Currently, doctors and nurses in public hospitals are on strike.
