The upcoming doctors strike is going to cause a serious health crisis. With the Covid 19 Pandemic on the rise worldwide, it is impossible to imagine what is going to happen to the country during the strike.
The doctors blame the government for declining to fulfil its promise. This comes barely a week after the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentist Union (KMPDU )held a promising meeting with the National Assembly Health Committee, which appears to have done little to save the country from an inevitable health crisis.
KMPDU has stated that the government has failed to address their concerns about safety, health insurance, and staffing gear needed to fight COVID-19. The nurses in Kenya also want the families of the nurses who died due to COVID-19 to be compensated. This comes after at least 30 doctors, 26 nurses, and 10 clinical officers succumb to the virus.
The situation further worsened with the death of a Kenyan doctor on Monday. Dr Stephen Mogusu’s who’s last words to the medical practitioners before succumbing to COVID-19 on Monday were: “Save your lives.”
The effects of the strike declared on Monday were seen on Tuesday morning with many people on social media complaining about the lack of services in public hospitals. Many patients with other ailments we’re turned away with some forced to seek expensive services at private hospitals.
The striking workers, including nurses and clinical officers the doctors, were also supposed to strike on Monday, but they postponed it by 14 days to allow for dialogue with the government.
“we’re saying there’s no more time because it’s about our lives, it’s about the soldiers who are on the frontline,”
said KMPDU Acting Secretary-General Dr Chibanzi Mwachonda said during the Tuesday press release.
