Kenya Signs Deal with Striking Doctors

Kenya's government has signed a deal with striking doctors, the health ministry announced, after almost two months of industrial action that left thousands of patients struggling to find medical care.

"After 56 days, KMPDU signs agreement, ending nationwide doctors' strike," the ministry said on X, formerly Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, which launched the action in mid-March in protest over pay.

Details of the deal were not immediately available. Talks had previously collapsed over the government's refusal to pay medical interns higher salaries as stipulated in a 2017 agreement following an earlier strike.

President William Ruto's cabinet had previously said it was "unsustainable" to pay the interns, who make up about 30 percent of doctors, a monthly stipend of 206,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,530), and instead offered $530.

But the doctors, numbering some 7,000 in total, had vowed not to return to the negotiating table if the agreed pay level was not restored.

Strikes over working conditions in public hospitals are common in Kenya, leaving a trail of suffering and often triggering an exodus of Kenyan medics to other African countries and further afield.

In 2017, doctors staged a 100-day nationwide strike that forced public hospitals to shut.

Dozens of patients died from a lack of treatment during that walkout, which ended after the collective bargaining agreement was reached.

Kenya is currently dealing with the devastating effects of flooding that has affected 235,000 people since mid-March when the rainy season started.

Some hospitals had decided to hire temporary doctors for emergency services.