Striking doctors positions to be advertised

Written By:KBC reporter,    Posted: Wed, Sep 26, 2012

Minister of Medical Services Anyang Nyong’o says his Ministry will place job adverts in local dailies in an effort to curb the crisis in the health sector. The government is set to hire 2,000 new medical practitioners if the striking doctors do not go back to work by Thursday. Medical Services Minister Anyang' Nyong'o says that the ministry aims to employ 1,000 doctors and a similar number of clinical officers. Nyong'o said that the ministry will place job adverts in local dailies starting Thursday in an effort to curb the crisis in the health sector. "We have 300 interns, 500 medical officers, and 200 doctors on strike, so we are going to replace the striking doctors with people of equal qualifications by Friday. We are targeting 1,000 doctors and 1,000 clinical officers, Nyong'o said while addressing journalists at Afya house. He maintained that operations in government hospitals are returning to normal with more than two thirds of the medical officers going back to work. "Out of 3,000 interns, pharmacists and dentists; 2,000 are on duty and salaries for the 1,000 that have not reported to work have been stopped. Health facilities are now being well managed, even doctors who are in administration are spending less hours in management and are now taking more hours attending to sick Kenyans in hospitals."He added On the other hand, the doctors' union KMPPDU remained adamant saying that the strike is still on until the government meet their demands. It is now two weeks since doctors in public hospitals downed their tools as the two antagonists in the industrial dispute maintained hard-line positions. The situation has left thousands of Kenyans who rely on public hospitals for Medicare in a more precarious situation. In the meantime doctors demanded no victimization to doctors who took part in the industrial action, a full implementation of the return to work formula signed in 2011, that self-sponsored registrars be absorbed into government, emergency call allowance of Ksh 30,000 , immediate hiring of 153 doctors among other issues. However Nyong'o warned that if the union continues with the strike, the government will have no option but to seek contempt of court orders. Last Thursday, the government threatened to sack and replace striking doctors if they failed to return to work immediately.