The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Lower Eastern branch Officials gather to address the Media in Machakos on Dec 2, 2025. Photo by Virginia Siebella 
By Virginia Siebella
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Lower Eastern branch has issued a final 21-day ultimatum to the Machakos County Government, warning that doctors will down their tools if the county fails to honour the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed last year.
Addressing the press in Machakos on Tuesday, the Union’s Lower Eastern Chair, Dr. Charles Okumu, said doctors have exercised patience for six months of negotiations that have yielded no tangible results.
“We are sounding a warning. This is the final warning we are giving the county,” Dr. Okumu stressed. “We have been negotiating since July, and now we are in December. These issues remain unresolved as we speak.”
He noted that although discussions have been held in boardrooms, the county government has failed to meet its end of the bargain—particularly on reinstating health insurance and processing promotions and salary adjustments due to eligible medics.
“Boardroom talk looks like it will have to shift to the streets if the county does not do their part,” he warned. “We want proper health insurance because when we fall sick, we also become patients like every other human being.”
Dr. Okumu expressed deep concern that doctors in Machakos have been left exposed due to lapses in the Social Health Authority (SHA) and Jubilee Insurance covers—services the county is mandated to facilitate.
He cited multiple cases of county-employed doctors who, after accidents or sudden illness, are unable to access treatment because their employer has not paid their insurance premiums.
“As we speak, we have a colleague admitted in the ICU after a severe road accident. Another is in HDU, another is awaiting surgery but cannot proceed because the cover is inactive,” he revealed. “A very senior colleague fractured his leg recently and couldn’t get care because SHA has to fund part of the treatment. If it is not paid by your employer, you are stuck.”
Dr. Okumu said such situations have forced doctors into humiliating circumstances, relying on colleagues and relatives to fundraise for treatment—an indignity he termed unacceptable for frontline professionals.
“Our question is: when you have a sick child, a sick spouse, or when you yourself are admitted in ICU, what are you supposed to do?” he posed. “Is the county telling us that our members should pay cash in these facilities?”
The union has now given Machakos County a strict 21-day window to address the concerns or face a full-blown industrial action that could cripple health services across public facilities.
“If we do not see anything constructive within these 21 days, then it will be spilled milk,” Dr. Okumu declared. “We will have no option but to call our members out of the facilities.”
The looming strike adds to a worrying nationwide trend, with KMPDU reporting a rise in cases where healthcare workers cannot access medical care due to inactive insurance covers—an issue the union says reflects systemic neglect across counties.
Machakos County Government is yet to issue an official response to the latest ultimatum.
