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{
    "id": 1384081,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1384081/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 47,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "THAT, quality healthcare is the lifeline of a country’s prosperity and that the maintenance of an appropriate complement of medical practitioners under suitable terms and conditions is fundamental to quality healthcare; THAT, Articles 27 and 41 of the Constitution of Kenya, as read together with the Employment Act, 2007, provide for the rights of employees and fair labour practices; THAT, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights entitles everyone to equal protection of the law, including the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and the right to receive information and to express and disseminate their opinions within the law; THAT, despite the elaborate safeguards in international law, the Constitution and statutes, medical practitioners in Kenya have been subjected to unfair labour practices, which have heightened since 2020; THAT, in April 2020, following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government recruited a number of health workers on one-year internship contracts to boost efforts on the achievement of Universal Health Coverage as well as to aid in the fight against COVID-19; THAT, the contracted health workers were released from service after one year, yet they had already been assigned personal numbers in the Ministry of Health. Their exit created a shortage that is yet to be addressed and has also made it hard for them to get any other employment in the public service since they are deemed to be in employment because they have personal numbers; THAT, the Public Service Commission’s Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016 recognise public sector internship programmes, which is both a legal requirement and prerequisite for licensure and independent practice in the case of medical practitioners; THAT, whereas the Ministry of Health has a duty to facilitate the posting of graduate medical practitioners for mandatory internship, it is yet to post medical interns who ought to have been posted in September 2023; THAT, further, the Ministry, which is obligated to compensate medical interns through a standardised salary/stipend, has been applying different terms. For instance, while all other interns are paid based on a job group in the health sector, diploma clinical officers are only paid a meagre allowance that can hardly cater for their basic needs during the internship period; THAT, the health staff under the UHC contract have been earning a salary equivalent to half of what their colleagues employed under county governments have been earning despite working in the same environment; THAT, the delayed internship posting and subsequent licensure deny affected graduates the opportunity to get exposure to uninterrupted skills mastery that would equip them to contribute to health service delivery in the country; THAT, the plight of intern graduates remains unresolved despite recommendations by the Senate for absorption of UHC and other staff contracted during COVID-19; further, the Kericho Declaration Agreement signed on 18th October 2023 by the medical staff unions, the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors committed the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors to facilitate absorption and mainstreaming of national Government contract staff, including the COVID- 19/UHC staff into employment; THAT, the health workers currently under the UHC Programme are about three months to the end of their one-year extension yet both county governments and the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}