8 critical steps to resuscitate Kenya’s doctors’ union
KMPDU is in ICU unconscious and gasping for air
Kenya Medical Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), is currently reeling and staggering across the ring like a boxer who has had his lights punched out and is just trying to not fall. Three successive failed strikes,internal division and a rogue government are some of the blows that have brought the union staring at a knock out defeat. We have seen other heavyweight unions such as Kenya National Union of Teachers be effectively retired, losing almost 78% of its membership in just a few years.
We must fix our union internally so as to be able to cure what ails our profession in this country. Rushing out to take on other big fights is adding more straw to an overloaded camel as it is now apparently clear that KMPDU, as currently constituted cannot deliver better working conditions for doctors in this country.
So as a doctor, here is my prescription.
- We devolve the union to county level
(Counties are semi-autonomous and issues affecting members are different and change from time to time)
Regional branches, which are an outdated relic from the era of provinces, should be dissolved in favour of a county-based structure.
Understanding the internal politics of a county so as to be able to network and lobby successful cannot be handled by 3–5 elected representatives across a whole region effectively.
2. Let us hold elections be held at the facility level
(We should not be treated like long distance traders setting off in caravans with the help of porters and relying on friendly communities for water to just cast a vote)
Most doctors work in only the major hospitals in this country and those who don’t can easily access one.
Let union elections and referendums be occurring at these facilities with the medical superintendent as the returning officer and watch members interest and participation grow.
3. We need a change of strategy from grandstanding to lobbying
(Just as ‘medreps’ continue giving us free pens, gifts and dinners, so should we be willing to invest in building relationships with the powers of the day)
It is clear that the approach of issuing threats and believing that strikes solve all problems should be abandoned, as it is simply not working. Emphasis should now be on the arduous work of negotiating win-win arrangements with the powers of day behind the scene.
Something tells me that negotiating for promotions and study leaves during a KMPDU retreat for the senior county officials at Ole Sereni is more likely to work than insulting them on social media.
4. We need to be more politically involved as a union
(We need to stop sitting out the electoral process and instead use it a time to negotiate, as that is the period of maximum leverage against any politician).
As we are coming to an electioneering period, KMPDU should be engaging in negotiations with gubernatorial candidates securing agreements on paper. Public endorsements by a union or invitations to speak directly to members may be carrots that are dangled. This is the reason that in most developed countries trade unions form the backbone of one of the major two political parties.
Avoiding this pre-electoral haggling is the equivalent of getting married without dating at all and hoping that once in your matrimonial home, you will find out your spouse to be kind and empathetic.
5. Let us form closer working relationships with ‘sister’ unions
(County health policies affect all healthcare workers across cadres.)
A pharmacist on contract in Nyeri has their fate tied to a nurse on contract in Nyeri more than a fellow pharmacist on contract in Mombasa. Hence if you want conversion to PnP terms of employment, you are better off working with the nurses union in your county and coordinating the lobbying efforts than trying to create a national push across the 47 counties for pharmacists on contract.
6. Stop stealing union money.
(Being a union official is not locum)
It really is that simple
7. Let us increase members’ benefits
(What are we paying 3k monthly for exactly again?)
While the figure itself is not the issue, value for that money is what is gravely lacking. Design small benefit packages and perks for being a union member. My senior consultant even once suggested that the union can get doctors jobs abroad.
8. Let us invest the future
(The membership is an increasingly ageing group of doctors who have the nostalgia of what the union did for them but without the fire in their belly to carry on the fight)
The automatic transition conveyor belt (from student to intern to professional) that provided KMPDU with new members annually stopped in 2017 and with too many young doctors feeling abandoned by the union during their unique professional struggles, the union is terminally ill.
Effort and investment should be made in getting new young members as this is the lifeline of any organization. This outreach should begin as early as in campus with sponsored events, awards, special membership status and even representatives. Young unemployed doctors could be supported partly for a few months to allow them to survive as they look for jobs.
This by all means is not an exhaustive list of how to fix KMPDU, but it can get the union out of the intensive care unit.
BILL KARUERU
(a medical doctor, a son, a brother, a failed footballer and aspiring candidate for secretary Central Branch in the upcoming KMPDU elections)
