Nairobi doctors to down tools over unpaid salaries, stalled promotions
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) said the strike was necessary due to persistent frustrations faced by healthcare workers.
All Nairobi County doctors, including those under the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), have announced that they will down their tools from midnight on February 27, 2025, to protest chronic salary delays, illegal dismissals, stalled promotions, unpaid gratuities and delayed confirmation letters.
In a notice on Wednesday, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) said the strike was necessary due to persistent frustrations faced by healthcare workers.
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"Doctors do not choose to strike, but how can we care for patients when we are deliberately incapacitated? For quality healthcare, doctors must be valued, supported, and empowered to serve," the union said.
The strike follows a series of grievances raised by Nairobi County doctors regarding salary stoppages and lack of promotions, which they say have severely hampered their ability to provide medical services effectively.
30-day strike notice
The industrial action comes a week after KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah issued a 30-day strike notice to the Ministry of Health, warning of further protests if their concerns were not addressed.
“We are giving the government 30 days to solve this issue of payment and posting of medical interns. Otherwise, on March 18, 2025, we will start a series of weekly demonstrations,” Atellah said.
The notice was issued in response to comments made by Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa during the Health Summit 2025 at Deputy President Kithure Kindiki's residence on February 17. In a widely circulated video, Barasa announced that the government would pay the new cohort of medical interns Sh70,000 instead of the Sh206,000 agreed upon in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
This is even after Deputy President Kithure Kindiki facilitated the signing of an agreement between doctors and the Ministry of Health on December 19, 2024, which averted a nationwide strike initially scheduled for December 22, 2024.
The agreement, also signed by the Council of Governors (CoG), stipulated that intern doctors would receive a salary of Sh206,000 in accordance with the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between the government and KMPDU.
“During our meeting in November/December, we talked about Sh206,000, but for the new cohort we’re talking about Sh70,000, and so negotiations will start to ensure that this is implemented,” the CS said.
Reacting to Barasa’s remarks, Atellah warned the government against tampering with doctors' salaries, stating that such actions would have serious consequences.
“Anytime you touch our salaries, you are inadvertently giving yourselves a strike notice as the government. CS Barasa, consider it served,” Atellah wrote on his X account.
The impending strike is expected to paralyse medical services in public hospitals across Nairobi County.
County health officials have yet to release a statement regarding the planned strike.
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