The Senate Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare chaired by Sen. Julius Murgor, today met with petitioners and stakeholders regarding the unfair terms and conditions for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff and delay in internship posting.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Union (KMPDU) on behalf of the duly registered Health Sector Unions, Associations and Societies in their petition prayed that the Senate would; investigate and intervene on the matter of discrimination and unfair remuneration of the health workers; Make recommendations on such programmes including adequacy of resources, better terms of engagement; and recommend appropriate measures for such programmes including internship and posting of health workers.

During the meeting held today, the Public Service Commission Chairman Amb. Antony M. Muchiri informed the Committee that following a proposal by the Ministry of Health, the Commission has extended the contracts of UHC healthcare workers for a period of one year as an interim measure pending consultations on conversion of terms of services to permanent and pensionable.

The petitioners urged the Commission to ensure equity in stipends offered during internships to the various cadres in the Health Sector.

The Committee highlighted to the Commission that the Persons with Disabilities in this Country experience a lot of difficulties when seeking medical services due to lack of specialized staff to attend to their special needs; to which the Commission undertook deal with and extend the same services to other Ministries and sectors in the Country. 

A later engagement will be scheduled with the petitioners, the CS Ministry of Health, Public Service Commission and the Council of Governors for further deliberations and conclusion of this matter.

Sen. Crystal Asige, Sen. Mohamed Faki, Sen. Rtd. Justice Madzayo, Sen. Miraj Abdulrahman, Sen. Alexander Mundigi and Sen. Gloria Orwoba were present in the meeting.