By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
Former KMPDU Secretary Genera Dr Ouma Oluga has waded into the ongoing discussion over salaries for medical interns.
The issue has been a hot potato, with the Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Wafula claiming interns do not deserve to earn a huge amount of salary contained in the now contentious 2017 CBA.
Doctors across the country are currently on strike demanding the full implementation of the CBA that provides that a medical intern earns as high as Ksh206,000 monthly salary.
In a post on his verified X handle, Dr Oluga said interns play a key role in the country’s health sector and deserve a huge salary.
He further noted that interns make up a third of the healthcare workforce and should they be replaced with full-time doctors, the government would be spending Ksh30 billion more on the salaries.
“It is a fact that interns are 27% of the health workforce. Imagine 27% of all the money we would pay to workers if interns were not there,” Dr Oluga said.
“You know how much health workers cost now? It is 87 B a year. Summed up for all Counties and minus Referral Hospitals. A third of 87 B would be near 30 B Kshs. So interns are saving Kenya 30 B and we want to argue that 5B is way too much to pay them. A mere 16% of what they are saving the taxpayer?” he added.
He also questioned a new proposal by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that interns pay between Ksh50,000 and Ksh70,000.
“I don’t understand how SRC came to decide that medical interns’ stipends be at Kshs 50,000/- to 70,000/-. In 2016/2017, together with SRC, we did a thorough job comparing countries of similar economic status, investment in education, the complexity of job, value of job in generating impact (revenue, savings in other drs who would have been employed if interns were not there, patient outcomes, etc),” said the former KMPDU boss.
