President William Ruto has said there is no money to pay striking doctors as the industrial action enters its fourth week with government and medical workers failing to agree.
Speaking on Sunday in Eldoret, the Head of State called upon the medical workers to understand that there is a limit to what the government can spend on their salaries and allowances.
“The resources we have are only sufficient to payKes 70,000 shillings for intern doctors. This is not a salary; it is a stipend for only one year. Afterwards, they will be employed,” he said.
The medical workers, who called for their national strike on March 14, are pushing the government to employ medical interns in the right job group, implement a salary rise, offer them comprehensive medical coverage, pay for their post-graduate training, and employ over 50,000 jobless doctors.
The strike has paralyzed health services nationwide, and the medical workers have insisted it will continue until the government addresses their grievances.
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Further, Ruto said his government values the work doctors and interns play in the health sector, noting that the country cannot continue to live beyond its means.
“As a nation, we must agree that we must live within our means. We cannot continue to spend the money we do not have."
Ruto said Kenyans must honestly discuss the issues affecting the country, promising to lead from the front.
The union expects the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to be implemented first and for the interns to be paid according to the terms of the agreement.
However, Susan Nakhumicha, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, has maintained that the ministry lacks sufficient funding to pay the amount doctors are pushing for.
