The Ministry of Health and the doctors’ union have not reached an agreement regarding the posting of 1,210 interns, some of whom have been protesting outside Afya House since Monday.
The group includes 72 dental, 849 medical, and 289 pharmacy trainees. The law mandates that they complete a 13-month internship training before being licensed to practice.
On Tuesday, Davji Atellah, the secretary general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), stated that Afya House is not to blame, noting that the ministry is also facing setbacks.
“The MoH are also frustrated, disappointed and disillusioned. We’ve been having lots of meetings from last week Tuesday but we have not made a breakthrough,” he said.
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha is said to have been holding meetings with the Treasury to get funds for interns without success.
Davji said the ministry had proposed 552 interns be posted first because there was money available for that number. But the union opposed the plan.
“It is not possible to only post doctors who graduated through JAB (Joint Admissions Board), it’s not possible to post doctors based on graduation date, there was no way to allow batch posting. We were not of the opinion of posting in batches,” Davji said.
He said another meeting to resolve the posting did not take place on Tuesday as planned. More meetings will be held on Wednesday.
He said the ministry has threatened there will be no discussions if the interns continue protesting and sleeping outside Afya House.
“So doctors we must restrategise, we must know and take the next action. As KMPDU, we are getting to meeting the national advisory council and see what next,” he said.
Over 100 interns began their protest on Monday, with some sleeping outside Afya House, vowing to continue daily until they are posted. The core issue is the stipend amount.
In April, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) directed that medical interns be paid a Sh70,000 stipend, significantly less than the Sh206,000 received by previous interns. SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich emphasized fairness and equity, noting that the highest-paid intern in the government receives Sh25,000.
In April, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei announced that the government had secured Sh2.4 billion to facilitate the immediate deployment and posting of the 2023-24 cohort of medical and dental student interns, based on the Sh70,000 stipend.
Consequently, the Ministry of Health issued posting letters to all 1,210 interns on April 10, instructing them to report to their stations within five days. However, the KMPDU advised the interns not to report and sued to have the SRC notice declared illegal. The case will be heard in September.
Following the 56-day doctors’ strike that ended on May 8, the Ministry of Health stated it could not post interns due to two cases lodged against the SRC. KMPDU and the ministry agreed that the doctor interns would have to wait 60 days for posting, which lapsed on Monday this week.
In a joint statement on Monday, the interns said the delay in posting has caused them immense psychological suffering.
“We have been at home for two years now. Our knowledge is decaying, and we are losing opportunities to advance our lives. The psychological suffering we endure is immense. Without a licence, we cannot practice medicine,” they said.
The interns emphasized their right to be posted within 30 days of completing their studies, as stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement between the Ministry of Health and the KMPDU. They made two demands:
First, they called for the immediate posting of all interns, with payments made in batches as resources become available.
Second, if the first demand is not met, they plan to occupy the Ministry of Health headquarters until their pleas are heard.
The interns rejected the ministry’s claims that tight fiscal space necessitates posting in batches.
