Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha on Wednesday dismissed speculation suggesting that she will resign over the ongoing doctors' strike.
Speaking during an interview on KTN News, Nakhumicha noted she would not step down as she was ready to fulfill her mandate and deliverables assigned to her by President William Ruto.
Nakhumicha insisted that it was time for the country to know who exactly she was, vowing to resolve the stalemate with the doctors soon.
“Leadership capacity and capability is tested during a crisis. So these are the times when people will know who Nakhumicha is,” noted the CS.
"I think they have just been seeing me. We are going to resolve this issue permanently," Nakhumicha promised.
According to the CS, the doctors' strike was a result of the grievances raised in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2017 that has since lapsed.
Nakhumicha clarified that the 2017 CBA which allowed intern doctors to receive Ksh206,000 could not be fully implemented because of the increase in the number of graduates who have since been posted as interns.
The CS also stated that interns were not employees and therefore they were not entitled to remuneration.
However, the CS noted there was room for fresh negotiations and signing a new CBA following the expiry of the previous one.
Nakhumicha stated that the Ministry was committed to addressing some of the concerns raised by the doctors. Moreover, those that are not within the Ministry's means posed a challenge.
"We need to open the conversation that would lead to the implementation of any deal signed between the Government and the medical practitioners," Nakhumicha stated.
"We have engineered negotiations which have borne progress so far and we are not relenting in that cause,” she added.
