The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah has appealed to the Ministry of Health to post medical students, working as interns in public hospitals and increase their salaries from the proposed Sh70,000.
Addressing the intern doctors during a Town Hall Assembly at the Ufungamano Hall in Nairobi, where he was accompanied by a delegation drawn from the Internship Liaison Committee, Dr. Atellah urged the government to honor the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of 2017-2021, negotiated between the Ministry of Health and the union.
“It is well written in the CBA 2017/2021 that interns will be posted 30 days after clearance from the Medical Council to the Board,” he said, noting that KMPDU agitates on behalf of the interns because the framework of their posting is outlined as well as their wages.
Additionally, he pleaded with the government to increase the salaries of interns from the proposed Sh70,000 terming it a meager amount, compared to the input and duties of the medical interns.
Dr. Atellah further stated that KMPDU has been engaging with Ministry to ensure that doctors and interns avoid a strike that would paralyze healthcare services across the country.
“We discussed the manner in which the interns were to be posted. The court made a ruling on 17th of October 2024, which ordered for either the number of the interns being posted be reduced per batch, or the employer discusses with the union and workers on the postings,” he said.
He also added that last year’s court order, directed the Ministry to seek advisory from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, so as to guide the process of posting and paying the medical interns.
The KMPDU Secretary General implored the ministry to strive and meet the demands of the CBA within 90 days that was issued by the court, so that the union does not call its members to go on a nationwide demonstration.
Making her remarks, the Chairperson for the Interns Liaison Committee Valentine Ndunda implored the government to post the interns as soon as they graduate from their medical training institutions.
By Clinton Ng’iela and Winnie Saha