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Kenyan doctors employed in the country’s public hospitals went on strike on Monday.
The doctors stated the government was risking their lives by forcing them to treat COVID-19 patients without adequate protection and not providing an insurance scheme to cover medical bills should they fall ill.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), with 7,000 members worldwide, announced their strike late on Sunday on Twitter.
According to KMPDU, the government had not responded to their grievances raised since March when the country reported its first case of COVID-19.
“It’s about the safety and welfare of the doctors,” Chibanzi Mwachonda, secretary-general of the union, told Reuters on Monday.
Mwachonda stated that the country’s fight against the coronavirus would be badly hampered by the doctors’ walk-out, but said the medics had no other choice.
The doctors’ union joined nurses and clinical officers working in government hospitals who have been on strike for two weeks.
According to the doctors’ union, at least 14 doctors have died of COVID-19 since March, several of them leading specialist physicians.
Over the weekend, Kenya’s health cabinet secretary Mutahi Kagwe said in televised remarks that medics on strike should return to work to avoid being fired.
A government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Kenya reported 349 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, with six fatalities, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 94,500 and the number of deaths to 1,639, the Health Ministry said.
