A section of Kenya’s health unions have strongly condemned the rising and targeted attacks on healthcare workers during ongoing national protests, warning of a possible withdrawal of services if the trend persists.
Led by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah, the unions expressed outrage over violent assaults.”For years, healthcare workers have stood in the line of duty, not as combatants, but as caregivers risking their lives in tear gas-filled streets and violent scenes to save lives. Yet now, we are being hunted in the very spaces we serve,” said Dr. Atellah during a press briefing.
He further noted that medical workers have always been at the forefront during the protest not as combatants but care givers.
However they raised a red flag over escalating cases of violent attacks meted out to the healthcare workers by alleged police officers and hired goons.
KMPDU has also decried an alarming trend where medics in their ongoing strike in various parts of the country have now become victims of the targeted attacks .
The unions have also noted that public hospitals are now, at a breaking point, a looming crisis stemming from the growing number of protests- related causalities.
To avert the devastating aftermath of these protests, the healthcare workers are now appealing to the country’s top leadership to steer a national dialogue to curb the crisis.