System Failure in Kiambu: KMPDU Withdraws Interns, Threatens Nationwide Strike

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has announced the immediate withdrawal of all medical interns stationed in Kiambu County and suspended future deployments to the region, citing a total breakdown of health services.

In a strongly worded statement issued ahead of a planned full-scale demonstration on Thursday, July 24, the union decried what it termed a “systemic collapse” of the county’s health sector, warning that if the crisis remains unaddressed, the current strike in Kiambu will escalate into a nationwide industrial action.

“The people of Kiambu are in pain. They are suffering in short-staffed, poorly equipped, and neglected facilities,” said KMPDU. “Rather than resolve the crisis, the county government has weaponized the suffering of patients against the very doctors trying to save lives.”

The union painted a bleak picture of a collapsing healthcare system not just in Kiambu, but across the country, characterized by the absence of essential drugs, critical understaffing, deteriorating infrastructure, and rising insecurity within hospitals.

This deteriorating state of affairs, KMPDU said, was tragically underscored by a recent murder of a patient within the premises of Kenyatta National Hospital, a national referral institution. “Our hospitals are no longer sanctuaries of healing, they are becoming crime scenes,” the union lamented.

Calling the situation a result of “policy neglect and leadership silence,” KMPDU emphasized that the crisis is not isolated to Kiambu but reflects deeper national governance failures in healthcare delivery.

The union vowed not to remain silent in the face of continued drug stockouts, unsafe working environments, preventable deaths, and what it called the “normalization of medical vacancy.”

As Thursday’s protest looms, the ball is now in the government’s court, respond with reforms or face the real possibility of a countrywide health sector shutdown.

Written By Rodney Mbua