Doctors also face trauma and have bills to pay

It is said that every doctor remembers the first patient they ever lost or saw die. [iStockphoto]

There's a conversation around the health workforce in Kenya that we keep on parrying. If that wasn't the case, the common question "Are doctors striking again?" wouldn't even appear as banal, and certainly not framed in that way.

There's an argument that's often put forth, that the medical profession is one of the very few where they pledge an oath to 'do no harm' and as such the remuneration is secondary to what many terms as "calling to serve".