The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has issued the government a seven-day ultimatum to resolve the ongoing nurses’ strike, warning that doctors could join the industrial action if the impasse persists.
KMPDU Secretary-General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah raised concerns over the impact of the strike on healthcare delivery, noting that public hospitals across the country were struggling to provide essential services.
Atellah warned that patients in need of nursing care were facing difficulties accessing treatment, creating an increasingly dangerous situation for both patients and healthcare workers.
“Essential services have been disrupted. There is no better way to say that patients going to hospital who need nursing care cannot get it, and nursing care is key for any health service to be functional,” Atellah said.
“Today we have 40 days in our public hospitals across the country that are constrained. It is increasingly becoming unsafe when doctors, whom we know are in shortage in the country, are overburdened,” he added.
He noted that hospitals were operating with minimal staffing and resources, with the prolonged disruption putting patients at risk of complications and deaths that could otherwise be avoided, including among children.
Atellah urged the government to take immediate action, arguing that the country's health system could not function normally while nurses, who form a critical part of healthcare delivery, remained on strike.
“The government of the day cannot continue to assume things are normal when a key component of the health system has been on strike for over 40 days,” Atellah said.
The warning comes roughly a week after Council of Governors Chair Ahmed Abdullahi appealed to striking nurses to resume duty as negotiations over their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) continued.
Abdullahi maintained that governors remained open to negotiations on the unresolved agreement, whose discussions date back to the period before the 2017 General Election but whose provisions have not been fully implemented.
The CoG chair noted that talks with the nurses were still ongoing when the union initiated the strike, making it more difficult for both sides to reach an agreement. Nurses have continued demanding the implementation of pending provisions contained in the CBA.
The nationwide nurses’ strike began in late July 2026 following unsuccessful negotiations with the government over outstanding demands linked to the implementation of the CBA.
The industrial action has now lasted about 40 days, disrupting nursing services in public hospitals and increasing pressure on both the national and county governments to resolve the dispute.
With no agreement yet reached, KMPDU has warned that doctors could join the strike if the government fails to resolve the nurses’ grievances within the seven-day deadline.
