P. Sarojini
Nairobi, Kenya (CWBN)_ Kenyan Doctors went on a nationwide strike, complaining of low pay, lack of medical insurance and insufficient safety equipment, driving a public health emergency as the active coronavirus cases keeps raising across the country. Following the eight months of negotiations with the government failed, the Kenyan medical practitioners which include dentists, pharmacists and all doctors started a 21-day strike. A parallel November strike was postponed in order to resume deliberations.
The key demands of the Kenyan medical practitioners are an adequate medical insurance coverage for the healthcare professionals, a hike in pay, 2,000 doctors on “permanent and pensionable terms” and special medical treatment for the doctors who contract the virus. The doctors have been requesting these facilities from the government for several months. But the government ignored their demands and compelled them to return to work.
Following a local television report which revealed the theft of millions of dollars of funds that were allocated to combat the pandemic from the government treasury, the doctors first started their strike. The new strike comes only months after this. The doctors in many counties laid down their instruments and continued their strike. A total of 94,500 coronavirus infections and 1,639 deaths have been reported in Kenya so far. Since easing restrictions in October, the country has witnessed an uptick in positive cases, raising concerns that the nation was experiencing a second wave.
Reports say that over a dozen of Kenyan doctors died as a result of Covid-19. One of them was the 28-year-old Dr. Stephen Mogusu. The young medical practitioner who died earlier in December did not have an insurance cover nor was paid for the past five months. The doctor’s union, during that time, took the issue to Twitter and tweeted, “Too steep a price for patriotism”.
