KMPDU, civil servants threaten strike over medical cover dispute

Pharmacists and Dentists Union Secretary-General Davji Atellah addresses a press conference in Nairobi alongside Union of Kenya Civil Servants officials. [File, Standard]

Civil servants have threatened to stage a nationwide strike from Monday, March 18, if the government fails to resolve the ongoing medical cover dispute linked to the Public Officers Medical Fund (POMF).

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS) in a statement on Tuesday, March 3, accused the government of failing to pay hospital bills under the POMF scheme, leaving public servants stranded despite monthly deductions.

"The comprehensive medical cover was established in 2012 when civil servants forfeited their medical allowance for an insurance scheme," said KMPDU Secretary-General Davji Atellah.

"Public servants are back to fundraising for medical needs despite being deducted twice-2.75 per cent to SHIF and forfeiture of medical allowance to POMF."

The unions said various hospitals across the country had declined to offer services under POMF due to non-payment of bills.

The scheme, managed by the Social Health Authority (SHA), replaced the previous fee-for-service model with a public officers medical fund after the enactment of the SHA Act in 2023.

UKCS Secretary-General Tom Odege said, "We are giving the government two weeks to resolve this issue once and for all. Failure to do so, we will call on all civil servants in both national and county governments to join demonstrations starting on March 18."

Odege added that the unions would escalate the protests into a full-blown strike within 30 days if the government failed to restore a functional comprehensive medical cover.

The unions said the move to deny public servants medical cover amounted to deliberate efforts to undermine workers' welfare.