Jailed 5000 doctors regain freedom
The Court of Appeal in Kenya on Wednesday ordered the release of jailed 5000 doctors.
The Appeal Court freed the doctors to enable officials of the national doctors’ union to continue negotiations with the government over a strike that has paralyzed the public health sector.
This followed a consent agreement by the parties assented to by the three-man Appeal Court panel.
The officials were ordered to serve a one-month jail term on Monday after a lower court found them guilty of contempt of court in relation to the strike which started in December.
According to Kenya’s Nation newspaper, lawyers for the Council of Governors and Kenya Medical Practitioners’, Pharmacists and Dentists Union agreed to have the doctors released immediately to carry on with talks.
The negotiations aimed at ending the two-month doctors’ job boycott will be jump-started on Thursday morning, the two parties agreed before the Court of Appeal.
They are expected to craft a return-to-work formula that will be presented in court on February 23, meaning doctors may have to vacate the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement they have been pushing their employer to effect. (NAN)