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KNH Chief Executive Officer Richard Lesiyampe however assured that the referral hospital had employed some doctors to ensure that patients were treated.

Kenya

Doctors join winding list of strikes

However the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) dismissed the government’s position accusing Nyong’o of politicising the matter.

“Nyong’o is a politician and we expect him to say political things like what he has said”

KMPDU Chairman Victor Ng’ani said the Medical Services Minister was not in touch with the situation on the ground.

“Nyong’o is a politician and we expect him to say political things like what he has said. But one of the most disappointing things is that he does not know what is happening at the Ministry. He is giving you second hand information,” he said.

“I wish he would pay more attention to this issue as he is doing to the Mbita ODM nominations,” he charged.

Ng’ani also disputed arguments that the formula had been implemented saying only three items had been attended to.

“One was that we call off the strike which we did. The other was the establishment of a taskforce to look into health concerns which was done and the third was to pay extraneous allowances to doctors which was done but beyond that nothing much has happened,” he argued.

He however observed that doctors working in Tana River would continue working in view of the recent tribal clashes that had seen more than 100 lives lost.

“This time we have appreciated that our government does not care about the common mwananchi so we have allowed a few consultants to stay behind and take care of the dire emergencies so that no patients will fail to access care,” he said.

“We expect all 2,600 unionisable workers to participate in the strike and maybe we will have about 10 percent of that staying back in hospitals,” he noted.

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In Kisumu, 15 out of 45 doctors at the Kisumu New Nyanza General Hospital reported for duty on Thursday morning.

Those who turned up for work criticised the manner in which the strike was organised saying they would not take part in the industrial action.

Their union official Edward Ojiema concurred that the strike was ill timed and its success was bound to fail.

Nyanza Provincial Director of Medical Services Ojwang Lusi also urged the doctors to ignore the strike and focus on dialogue.

Additional reporting by Simon Ndonga in Nairobi.

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