Hi, Cyprian, hope you are good.
I'm Amos and I read your blog about KMTC. I am an alumni of the college graduated with a diploma in clinical medicine and surgery (clinical officer). Our training takes 3 years + 1 year of compulsory internship in a hospital approved by The Clinical Officers Council.
Its sad that clinical officers are subjected to this one year internship without any payment from the Government, despite the fact that Treasury allocated Kshs. 3.2billion to the Ministry of Health for training medical officers interns, nurses (degree), and clinical officers interns in the previous budget.
The Ministry has discriminated diploma clinical officer-interns who work full time in government hospital from 8-5pm including weekends and night shifts. They only pay medical officers interns, degree clinical officers and degree nurses who also go through one year internship in the same hospitals.
Due to this discrimination last year 2015, (I did my internship from January-December at Embu Provincial General Hospital) we came together as diploma clinical officers interns and held demos in Nairobi and presented our petition to The Ministry of Health and Office of The Deputy President, but nothing was done.
We agreed to go to court and hired Onyoni Opinini and Gachuba Advocates to represents us. They filed a suit known as Mrs Mary Ndwiga vs Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, and the Attorney General.
The case is still active at Milimani Law Courts and we expect a ruling on 18th April 2016 (this month).
Diploma clinical officers are being subjected to modern day slavery, most of are from Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), with only a few coming from private institutions.
And to add insult to injury, after internship we are not directly posted to work, we have to wait for County Governments to advertise for positions of clinical officers. Medical doctors are being directly posted to work after internship, which is illegal since the Health function was devolved and they too should wait for counties to employ them.
Clinical officers don't have a trade union, hence no one to talks on our behalf, unlike doctors who have KMPDU, nurses KNUN. Government has been frustrating us when we try to form a union, we had to go to court again, we are still waiting for the committee to give its verdict soon on the union issue.
The media too has given us blackout with our efforts to have TV interviews not materialising.
I believe you are a voice for the voiceless and count on you to redeem these young kenyans from discrimination and slavery.
Thank you, God bless you.
We hereby reach out to the Deputy President William Ruto. Please stop pre occupying your mind to grabbing land and stealing money for 2017 campaigns. We are tired of this bullshit by you and Uhuru of putting th country on constant campaign mode, yet you never work or deliver anything. Resolve this matter as soon as possible.
We are also calling on the former Nairobi Hospital CEO whose appointment as Health Ministry CS was largely meant to give private health providers an opportunity to undermine Government hospitals and staffers.
Mr. Cleophas Mailu needs to be investigated together with Deputy President William Ruto on whether the Kshs. 3.2 Billion allocated for training health providers is being embezzled by the two, together with board members of KMTC.
Mediocre mainstream media who were expecting bribes so as to cover the massive scandal at KMTC should be ashamed of themselves. Shame on you Tom Mshindi, Sam Shollei, Wachira Waruru and all you bribed crooks running media houses. Karma is real because your family members will be victims of neglect at public hospitals and will die.
We now petition Kenyans to take health matters seriously. After Lonesome Bounty's exposè on Getrudes Children's Hospital, it's clear that we need to push for better equipping of public hospitals, better terms for health practitioners serving in public hospitals and transparency in KMTC.
We are tired of being fleeced by private hospitals. We are tired of being coerced by partisan media to raise funds for Janet Kanini's hospital bills in India, as if she is the only one suffering from cancer in Kenya.
We are tired of flying all the way to India for treatment, yet we have money to build, equip, staff and retain the best brains in the country.
We now ask Kenyans to take matters of health seriously. We need all Level 5 hospitals to be at the same standard of Aga Khan. It's possible.