Intern Doctors Will Be Paid Ksh70,000 Each- Ruto Tells Striking Doctors

President William Ruto has told off striking doctors demanding additional salaries for medical interns, stating that the country was struggling with a ballooning wage bill.

Speaking while attending a church service at Eldoret AIC Fellowship church, the Head of State revealed that out of the Ksh2.2 trillion collected, the country is spending Ksh1.1 trillion every year on payment of salaries and wages.

According to Ruto, the country must adhere to austerity measures and though he valued the work of the medical professionals, it was important for the government not to spend money that isn't currently there.

"I know we have a situation in Kenya with our doctors and interns. I want to implore them that it is important for us as a nation that we must live within our means," he stated.

"We cannot continue to spend the money we do not have. I am telling the doctors that we mind them and we value the service that they give to our nation but we must live within our means."

According to Ruto, Kenya’s wage bill is at 47% against the recommended 35%, noting that the country needs a conversation so that those who earn salaries are responsible for the reduction of the wage bill, which would free up more resources to create jobs for young people.

He further disclosed his agreement with the Cabinet to reduce the budget from Ksh4.2 trillion to Ksh3.7 trillion so that the country lives within its means, adding that the country will not borrow to pay salaries as he promised that all intern doctors will be absorbed in terms that the government has offered.

Ruto therefore indicated that the State was willing to pay intern doctors Ksh70,000 as a stipend for a year instead of a monthly salary as he called for the end of the doctors' strike, an amount he said the government was able to offer because it was the only resource it could amass to bring an end to the strike.

"The resources we have are only sufficient to pay Ksh70,000 for intern doctors. It is not a salary, it is a stipend for one year and then they are employed," Ruto added.

"All our doctors and doctor interns will be taken in. That is why we are going to spend the resources we have to make sure that all the 1,500 doctors are absorbed at once. As a nation, we must live within our means."

This comes even as medical personnel allied to the Kenya Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) embarked on a strike demanding the State to honour earlier negotiations and deploy medical interns among other ultimatums.

Shortly after, the Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health Practitioners Union, alongside the Pharmaceutical Technologists and Nutritionists also downed their tools with their demands for the State as well.

Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei on April 3 stated that the government can only afford to pay interns Ksh70,000, against the demand by interns to be paid Ksh206,000 per month, the former sum proposed by the Salaries and Remunerations Commission (SRC).

While medical interns have been receiving such an amount in the past, Koskei argued that this would not be possible this time round owing to the number of graduating medics on the rise, which has seen the government reconsider the salary demand which had risen from Ksh4 billion to Ksh12 billion.

However, should the medical interns accept the proposed sum of Ksh70,000, they would be posted across different hospitals with immediate effect.

The government secured Ksh2.4 billion to facilitate the immediate deployment and posting of the 2023/24 cohort of medical student interns.