Kenya doctors, government sign hard-fought agreement

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Months after a tug of war between the Kenyan government and doctors that led to a 100-day strike earlier this year, both sides signed Friday a collective bargaining agreement which improves the working conditions of doctors in the east African country.

The deal, which increases doctors' salaries and allowances, provides better health equipment and sees to the hiring of more doctors among other things, was inked by Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) officials led by Secretary General Ouma Oluga and Kenya's Health Minister Cleopa Mailu.

Thousands of doctors across the country went on an illegal strike on December 5 demanding a 300 percent pay raise under a 2013 collective bargaining agreement.

The strike ended on March 14 after the doctors signed a return to work deal with the government, ending "one of the most painful strikes in Kenya" which took a heavy toll on poor people, who mostly seek treatment at public hospitals.

More than 100 doctors were sacked earlier in March after declining a government offer to hike wages by 50 percent and pay $5.8 million in backdated allowances.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said in early February that many Kenyans had lost their lives due to the strike, and hundreds of mental health patients had run away from a hospital in Nairobi due to the absence of caregivers.