NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has given the government seven days to resolve the ongoing nurses’ strike, warning that doctors could join the industrial action if the prolonged dispute is not addressed.
KMPDU Secretary-General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah said the strike had severely disrupted essential health services across the country, leaving public hospitals operating under significant pressure.
Atellah warned that doctors, already working amid a shortage of medical practitioners, were becoming increasingly overburdened as nurses remained away from their workplaces.
“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.
He added that public hospitals had been operating under severe constraints for more than 40 days.
“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 said.
KMPDU warns of wider health crisis
According to Atellah, the disruption of nursing services has pushed some public hospitals to operate at the bare minimum, affecting their ability to provide comprehensive care.
He said the situation was contributing to preventable complications and deaths among patients, including children, and warned that the strain on doctors could further compromise patient safety.
“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 union is now demanding urgent government intervention, arguing that the prolonged dispute between nurses and their employers cannot be allowed to continue without a resolution.
KMPDU’s warning raises the prospect of a broader disruption to healthcare services if doctors join the nurses in industrial action.
Such a development would put additional pressure on public hospitals, which rely on nurses, doctors, clinical officers and other healthcare workers to provide coordinated services.
Nurses’ strike enters sixth week
The nationwide nurses’ strike began in late July 2026 after negotiations over the implementation of an outstanding Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) failed to resolve the nurses’ demands.
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 reach an agreement with the striking healthcare workers.
The dispute centres on outstanding provisions of a CBA that nurses have been seeking to have implemented.
The agreement has its roots in negotiations that began before the 2017 General Election but has never been fully implemented, according to the Council of Governors.
Governors urge nurses to return to work
The KMPDU ultimatum comes about a week after Council of Governors Chair Ahmed Abdullahi called on striking nurses to return to work while negotiations continue.
Abdullahi said governors were willing to continue discussions over the unresolved CBA, maintaining that talks had been ongoing when the nurses’ union declared the strike.
The position highlights the complex nature of Kenya’s public health workforce, with county governments playing a central role in the employment and management of many healthcare workers.
However, the continued strike indicates that negotiations have yet to produce an agreement acceptable to the nurses.
The governors have faced increasing pressure to resolve the dispute as prolonged industrial action affects healthcare delivery across counties.
Doctors warn of consequences
KMPDU’s intervention introduces another layer to the dispute, with doctors warning that the continued absence of nurses is placing additional demands on an already stretched workforce.
Nurses play a central role in patient monitoring, medication administration, bedside care, emergency response and other essential hospital functions.
When those services are disrupted, doctors may be required to handle responsibilities outside their normal workload, potentially increasing waiting times and pressure on already understaffed facilities.
Atellah’s warning therefore goes beyond the nurses’ employment dispute and raises broader concerns about the resilience of Kenya’s public healthcare system.
The union says the government has seven days to act before doctors consider joining the industrial action.
Government under pressure to break deadlock
The ultimatum puts renewed pressure on the national government and county administrations to find a solution to the nurses’ demands.
The two levels of government have previously been involved in negotiations over healthcare workers’ terms and conditions, with implementation of CBAs frequently emerging as a major point of contention.
For patients, the immediate concern is access to essential services.
Public hospitals serve millions of Kenyans, many of whom depend on government facilities because private healthcare remains unaffordable or inaccessible.
A prolonged nurses’ strike can therefore have consequences beyond hospital staffing, particularly for emergency care, maternal and child health, chronic disease management and other services that require continuous nursing support.
KMPDU’s warning suggests the dispute could now escalate from a prolonged nurses’ strike into a wider confrontation involving multiple categories of health workers.
