HEALTH UNIONS TO STAGE ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION ON MONDAY IN NAIROBI.

Health unions will stage another nonviolent demonstration on Monday to demand, among other things, that interns be posted.

In a joint statement, the unions stated that petitions to the Ministry of Health, Council of Governors, Senate, National Assembly, Public Service Commission, Treasury, and Ministry of Interior will be given during the march, which will start at the KMA facility in Upper Hill.

 Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), and Kenya Union of Nutritionists and Dietitians (KUNAD) are among the unions scheduled to participate in the nonviolent demonstration.

The recent alleged attack on KMPDU SG Davji Atellah on Thursday of last week, the delays in concluding the 2023–26 Collective Bargaining Agreements, and the ministry's purported failure to sign recognition agreements are among the other concerns that the unions are concerned about.

Another point of criticism is the delay in integrating UHC health personnel and coordinating all contracts with county governments and the ministry by the Kericho declaration.

The notice states, "Health workers are entitled to security as they exercise their right to assemble, picket, demonstrate, and present petitions to public offices. The Nairobi Regional Office has been informed accordingly."

Speaking on Sunday, KNUN SG Seth Panyako attributed the ministry's claimed lack of funding and corruption to the postponement of intern postings.

"This country has money, it's just that it's being misused; corruption is the issue, but when it comes to hiring interns, they keep telling us there isn't any," Panyako stated.

Last Friday was the deadline that clinicians gave the government to respond to their concerns over the future of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) employees.

According to the union, the agreed-upon one-year period for the staff to be permanently and pensionably integrated is quickly coming to an end.

 Still, the Ministry has not stated if the employees will be taken on as planned during a meeting that took place in Kericho during the UHC week in October.

 "We signed and agreed under the Kericho declaration that they should be absorbed after a year, but there is no information, and the contract expires in less than three months," KUCO Chairperson Peterson Wachira stated.

 There had been a recent dispute between the federal and local governments on what would happen to the 9,000 healthcare workers who were infected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 To facilitate the seamless adoption of UHC and improve the response to the pandemic, the lot was hired in April 2020 for a three-year contract.