Kenyan Doctors Issue Three-Week Strike Notice Due to Lack of Covid-19 Protective Gear

Kenyan doctors have issued a three-week strike notice amid increased cases of Covid-19 fatalities involving frontline healthcare workers.

Through the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), the medics accuse the government of failing to provide them with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) in the fight against Covid-19.

The union said the national and county governments have constantly refused to address their plight since the pandemic broke out in the country in March.

“Over the last 8 months, KMPDU has continuously engaged all relevant government ministries, parastatals, and council of governors, the legislature, and followed all relevant channels in employment and labor relations in a bid to address the plight of frontline healthcare workers.”

“The union had put the industrial off the table but now we have been forced to review our options,” KMPDU secretary-general Chibanzi Mwachonda said on Sunday.

Chibanza noted that the government’s negligence has led to the death of at least 30 healthcare workers, among them 10 senior specialist doctors.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta you need to act immediately,” he pleaded.

On his part, KMPDU chairman Samuel Oraro accused the government of reneging on its pledge to protect the lives of healthcare workers especially those attending to Covid-19 patients.

As of Sunday, there were 70,245 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kenya, 45,766 recoveries, and 1,269 deaths.