Nakuru doctors take to the streets in nationwide strike
Doctors strike in Nakuru.
Doctors in Nakuru staged a protest today to try and compel the government to implement the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The protest, which brought traffic to a standstill along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway, is in line with a nationwide doctors' strike that is in its 21st day.
Kennedy Nyigilo, one of the doctors who took part in the protests, said one of the issues they want to address is the doctor-patient ratio. According to him, there are few doctors compared to the number of patients.
"Interns work 80-130 hours in a week and they make up 35 per cent of the workforce and they save the government about Sh30 billion and we don't see why they can't allocate Sh5 billion a year to pay interns," said Mr Nyigilo.
Other challenges they want to see addressed include equipping of hospitals. Doctors can only do so much, he said, but if they lack proper equipment, it becomes difficult for them to do their job efficiently.
The national strike was called by the secretary general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Dr Davji Atellah.
In a statement, Dr Atellah said the decision was taken after the union failed to reach a consensus with the government on issues affecting health workers.
Currently, vital medical services have been affected, with hundreds of patients stranded in hospitals.
Doctors strike in Nakuru.
At the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital (NCTRH), locals seeking medical services have been forced to return home because there are no doctors to attend to them.