Striking medics in Machakos County have vowed to stay put until their demands are met.
Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Lower Eastern chair Charles Okumu maintains that their strike which now enters its sixth day is still on emphasising no mere notice will make the doctors rescind their decision.
Speaking at the Machakos level five facility Okumu said the devolution of healthcare should make services available for all Kenyans and ensure medics are motivated which is not the case.
He said the court order summoning clinicians to return to work pending a case to be heard this week on Wednesday is aimed at infringing their rights.
A spot check at the facility shows a deserted hospital with no doctors at work and desperate patients who have no option but to go back home or seek treatment elsewhere.
The KMPDU regional chair speaking to journalists at the hospital revealed that the county has refused to yield to their demands including redesignation, insurance cover and promotions which they have been pushing for in the last two years.
According to Okumu, a number of doctors have served for more than eight years without any promotion and they have been signing several return-to-work formulas which have never been implemented.
He dismissed the assertions by the county that healthcare workers in the county have portrayed themselves in a special manner since they’re the only department of ten that has received promotions and urged other departments to follow suit to push their grievances to be addressed.
On Friday, the court summoned the branch’s Kenya Union of Clinical officers who are also on strike to appear on the 16th for the court case.
