Doctors in Kenya march against unemployment, lack of drugs in hospitals

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) held a peaceful demonstration as medical professionals from various disciplines gathered in the capital, Nairobi, to voice the chronic dearth of employment opportunities for doctors.

More than 200 medical doctors participated in the rally on Tuesday as they expressed their worries about unemployment and the growing underemployment crisis affecting Kenya’s medical profession

Doctors also protested over what they termed as the “deplorable state of healthcare in public hospitals.”

“These challenges have significantly compromised the ability of our overburdened and demotivated healthcare professionals to deliver effective and timely medical services to the citizens of our nation,” KMPDU Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah said.

“But more worrying hasn’t really been the fact that no one employs health workers. What hurts is the deliberate removal of instruments that basically protect the right of health workers to be employed, to be trained, to be remunerated effectively, to be deployed and to be socially protected. The CBA is abandoned. The schemes of service no longer mean anything.”

Susan Mwangi, a protester, stressed the urgency of the situation and was quoted by a Turkish news agency to have said, “We have a significant number of highly skilled medical professionals who have graduated and are yet to secure stable employment.

“This is not only a matter of unemployment but also underemployment, as many doctors are forced to accept positions that do not match their qualifications and expertise,” she said.

The protests come at a time when the medical community in Kenya grows increasingly frustrated with the few job options available.

A petition submitted to the Ministry of Health reads in part, “there are unprecedented shortages of doctors and healthcare workers in the hospital amidst unemployment and underemployment crisis in both public and private hospitals.”

Kenya, a country of over 50 million people, is experiencing a scarcity of health care providers.

The KMPDU has encouraged the William Ruto-led administration to address the situation as soon as possible

The union stated its desire to engage in constructive engagement with the government and other stakeholders in order to find long-term solutions to the problems that doctors face in Kenya.