Kenyan Doctors Warn They May Join Nurses’ Prolonged Strike Over Workload and Unpaid Allowances

NAIROBI – The quiet hum of hospital corridors in Kenya has been replaced by a louder, more urgent chorus. For six weeks now, nurses have been on strike, demanding that a collective‑bargaining agreement signed in 2017 finally be put into action. The agreement, which promised better pay and benefits, has lingered on the shelf, the government saying the budget simply won’t allow it.

Now the pressure is spilling over to the doctors. Dr. Davji Bhimji Atellah, secretary‑general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners’ Union, posted on X that doctors are “over‑burdened and cannot do the nursing jobs.” He warned that the hospitals are already short‑staffed and that a broken system hurts everyone – patients, nurses, and physicians alike.

In a message that read more like a rallying cry than a statement, Atellah gave the government a seven‑day deadline to address the nurses’ concerns. If the clock runs out, the doctors say they will issue a formal strike notice, essentially adding their weight to an already heavy protest.

Hundreds of nurses marched to the Council of Governors (COG) headquarters on Tuesday, pushing for a meeting with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission. The COG, a body that brings together the 47 county governments, was slated to discuss remuneration that same day. Yet the nurses argue that talking without action is just window dressing.

Seth Panyako, head of the Kenya Nurses Union, bluntly accused the government of sidelining health in the national budget, leaving ordinary Kenyans to suffer in overcrowded wards. “We have been promised improvements for nine years,” he said, referring to unpaid allowances that have piled up since the 2017 deal.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Abdullahi, chair of the Council of Governors, appealed for calm, urging nurses to suspend the strike while negotiations continue. He reminded them that a court had already ruled the walkout illegal and warned that individual counties might take disciplinary action against striking staff.

One nurse, James Murimi, walked five kilometres to join the protest. He told reporters that the promised uniform upgrades and service allowances have never materialised, and that the arrears now total nine years of unpaid wages – a debt he says belongs to the whole of Kenya, not just the health sector.

In the Senate, the discussion turned to the recent closure of hospital dispensaries in several counties. Senator Samson Cherargei of Nandi County warned of a “surge in deaths” and pointed fingers at the Council of Governors and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission for what he called a “national crisis.”

As the standoff drags on, patients remain the silent victims, caught between dwindling staff numbers and mounting demands. Whether doctors will indeed walk out remains to be seen, but the message is clear: the health system can’t survive if any single piece is allowed to crumble.