NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 5 – Governors have disowned the return-to-work formula signed between the Ministry of Health and unions representing doctors and clinical officers, citing numerous grey areas.
Doctors resumed work last week after signing a deal with Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, who pledged to address their grievances which include risk allowance, provision of Personal Protective Equipment for frontline workers among others.
Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said they ought to have been consulted because county governments are employers.
The move by the Governors has since irked the doctors who have warned that “the health sector under counties risk to be paralysed” if the Governors make good their threat.
Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Dr. Chibanzi Mwachonda the concerns raised by counties on the agreement signed last week are not valid.
Oparanya however, insists that counties had already addressed most of the grievances by the doctors and questioned why they were not consulted.
“The County Governments uphold the interests of all workers including health workers. Therefore, the negotiations that were undertaken to arrive to the reurn to work formula by the two unions though well intended need to have involved each County Government. This is because individual County Governments are already addressing the issues of health workers are at advances stages,” he said.
Oparanya noted that some of the issues raised in the return to work formula have a huge monetary implication that have not been factored in the current budget nor the next financial year.
“We note that each County Government is an employer and recognition agreements are county specific and therefore the return to work formula must be county specific. Counties have already taken remedial measures in relation to the strike which cannot be vacated and thus a centralised return to work formula cannot be undertaken at this point,” he said.
Among the issues the Governors are contesting include the doctors’ risk allowance which, they said, require a minimum increment of between 500 percent and 650 percent to low cadres.
The others include the conversion of contracts to permanent and pensionable terms which the Governors said require astronomical resources which have not been factored in the budget and their clamour for an enhanced comprehensive group life cover.
Clinical officers were on Tuesday set to respond to the Governors threats.
Nurses and the medical laboratory officers are still on strike.
Governors have now called for a meeting with CS Kagwe to deliberate on the issues.
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