KMPDU Threatens Strike Notice If Nurses’ Dispute Remains Unresolved

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has threatened to issue a strike notice within seven days if the ongoing nurses' strike is not resolved, warning that disruptions in public hospitals have escalated into a national healthcare crisis.

KMPDU Secretary General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah said the continued disruption of services across public health facilities was increasingly affecting patients and placing healthcare workers under severe pressure.

“What is unfolding across the country is no longer a labour dispute that can be managed through delays, threats or court processes. It is a national healthcare emergency,” Dr Atellah said in a statement issued Monday.

Doctors Warn of Growing Pressure on Health Facilities

According to KMPDU, public health facilities are operating under significant strain as essential services remain disrupted and healthcare workers take on increasingly heavy workloads.

Dr Atellah said doctors and other healthcare professionals were being forced to work in conditions that were neither sustainable nor safe for patients.

He warned that the crisis was already contributing to delayed treatment, disrupted medical services, preventable complications and avoidable suffering.

“The current crisis did not emerge overnight,” he said, linking the current disruption to longstanding grievances within Kenya's health sector.

KMPDU Cites Unimplemented Agreements

The doctors' union attributed the wider crisis to several unresolved issues affecting healthcare workers, including the failure to implement Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), delayed salaries and statutory remittances, stalled promotions and inadequate staffing.

KMPDU said agreements reached between healthcare workers and government must be honoured, arguing that failure to implement signed commitments damages trust in public institutions.

“Agreements signed with healthcare workers must mean something,” Dr Atellah said.

He added that a government that negotiates and signs agreements before failing to implement them risks undermining both its workforce and public confidence.

Union Calls for Return-to-Work Deal

KMPDU is calling on the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors (CoG) to resume negotiations with striking nurses and conclude a binding and fully funded Return-to-Work Formula.

The union is also demanding full implementation of signed CBAs across Kenya's 47 counties, including payment of salary arrears, promotions and other agreed benefits.

It wants the government to address persistent staffing shortages and delays in recruitment, while establishing the Health Human Resource Advisory Council (HHRAC) to provide a coordinated framework for managing the country's health workforce.

KMPDU has also called on all 47 county governments to implement previously agreed adjustments to doctors' basic salaries.

According to the union, the salary adjustment had been scheduled for implementation by August 2026.

KMPDU Backs Striking Nurses

Dr Atellah said KMPDU would continue supporting nurses and other healthcare workers in their efforts to secure implementation of agreements reached with government.

“We stand in solidarity with nurses and all healthcare workers fighting for fair treatment and the implementation of agreements reached in good faith,” he said.

The union, however, issued its strongest warning yet over the ongoing dispute.

“Take notice that if the nurses' strike is not resolved within the next seven days, then KMPDU will proceed and issue a strike notice,” Dr Atellah said.

Potential Wider Healthcare Disruption

A KMPDU strike notice would raise the prospect of wider disruption in Kenya's public health system if negotiations fail to produce a settlement.

The union's warning places renewed pressure on the Ministry of Health and county governments to resolve the nurses' dispute and address the broader grievances affecting healthcare workers.

For patients who rely on public hospitals and clinics, any further industrial action could place additional pressure on an already strained health system.