Residents from Kisumu County have threatened to take legal action against doctors over their three-week strike that has crippled health services.
Led by Kisumu City Residents Voice Chairman Audi Ogada, the residents said they have suffered since they are unable to get medical services.
Ogada said civil society groups were contemplating on suing the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDU) and the county government over the strike.
The chairman said KMPDU and the county government should apologise to the affected patients and families that lost their loved ones over the strike.
“We are in the process of tabulating the number of those who died as a result of the strike due to lack of attention in public facilities. So far, in Kisumu Central sub-county alone, we have 15 reported deaths and more than 10,000 patients who suffered during the 23-day-strike,” Ogada lamented.
The doctors in Kisumu called off their strike on December 28 after striking since December 6 after the county government failed to honour a return to work formula it signed with the doctors in June.
KMPDU Nyanza Secretary Lameck Omweri said striking doctors will resume work adding that the more than 100 doctors have been promoted to various job groups.
“No doctor will be victimised as a result of the strike and full salaries of the same period will be paid on time,” said Omweri.