Embu County has agreed to promote 59 doctors and convert dozens more to permanent terms following talks with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), a move that has eased tensions and averted a looming health crisis in the county.
The agreement was reached after a consultative meeting between the county administration, led by Governor Cecily Mbarire, and KMPDU officials, where all issues raised by the union in a strike notice issued on November 17 were addressed.
Under the deal, 59 doctors will be promoted under the August 2024 promotion cycle, with the changes expected to reflect in their payslips. In addition, the county committed to promoting the remaining 19 consultant doctors by January 15, 2026.
One of the major wins for the union was the county’s decision to convert all 30 doctors who had been serving on contract terms to permanent and pensionable employment, a long-standing grievance that KMPDU said had left many health workers vulnerable.
To address staffing shortages, Governor Mbarire also pledged to hire 20 more doctors on permanent and pensionable terms. Fourteen doctors will be recruited immediately, while the remaining six are expected to be hired by January 2026.
The agreement further provides for the full remittance of all outstanding statutory deductions, after doctors complained of poor labour practices that exposed them to financial risk.
The deal brings to an end weeks of stalemate between the county government and KMPDU, which had persisted despite ongoing negotiations. Before the breakthrough, doctors in Embu had been on strike for more than two weeks, disrupting services at public health facilities and drawing accusations from county officials that the medics were acting in bad faith.
Earlier, Embu County Secretary Ammy Ruria had argued that implementing the disputed promotion letters would breach human resource procedures and expose the county to audit queries. Health CECM Jamal Runyenjes had also suggested that the industrial action was partly driven by internal politics within the union.
The Embu agreement comes amid sustained pressure by KMPDU on governments—both national and county to honour commitments on doctors’ pay and welfare. For much of the year, the union has been pushing for the implementation of an earlier deal to increase doctors’ salaries nationwide.
The national government has since pledged to clear doctors’ salary arrears dating back to 2017, in line with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed eight years ago.
