Monday, April 8, 2024 - President William Ruto has broken his silence over the ongoing doctors’ strike that has paralyzed the public health sector in the country.
Speaking during a church service
at AIC Fellowship in Eldoret yesterday, Ruto told the striking doctors to take
what the government is offering them or leave it.
According to Ruto, the State is
ready to pay intern doctors Ksh70,000 for one year as he calls for an end to
the strike.
The Head of State characterized
the offer as a stipend the medical interns would be subjected to for a year
before they were absorbed.
"I know we have a situation
in Kenya with our doctors and interns. I want to implore on them that it is
important for us as a nation that we must live within our means," he
stated.
"We cannot continue to
spend the money we do not have. I am telling the doctors that we mind them and
we value the service that they give to our nation but we must live within our
means."
He noted that the government
could only offer the money because it was the only resource it could amass to
bring an end to the strike.
"The resources we have are
only sufficient to pay Ksh70,000 for intern doctors. It is not a salary, it is
a stipend for one year and then they are employed," Ruto added.
"All our doctors and doctor
interns will be taken in. That is why we are going to spend the resources we
have to make sure that all the 1,500 doctors are absorbed at once. As a nation,
we must live within our means."
This comes even as medical
personnel allied to the Kenya Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists
Union (KMPDU) embarked on a strike demanding the State to honour earlier
negotiations and deploy medical interns among other ultimatums.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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