Trans Nzoia County Governor, George Natembeya on Monday, November 14, banned doctors from operating private clinics while still on government payroll.
The governor stated that during his reign, doctors’ offices will be domiciled within hospital premises for proper supervision and service delivery.
Natembeya insisted that the doctors will have to choose between operating their private clinics or serving within the public service.
He promised to have all health workers remunerated well and timely.
“Furthermore to curb conflict of interest in service delivery no medical officer from Transnzoia County will be allowed to serve the public hospitals and attend to their own private clinics,” he noted.
On September 26, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) addressed the issue of government doctors operating private clinics.
Through a statement signed by the Union’s Secretary General Dr. Davji Atellah, the union stated that it is not a crime for doctors to run their own private businesses.
“Doctors are not the only civil servants who engage in private practice. In fact, there is no law in Kenya today that bars any civil servant from engaging in private enterprise,” stated Atellah.
Atellah was responding to a piece of news covered by the Nation that had exposed how a number of specialist doctors pocket huge pay despite not showing up to the public hospitals.
He also clarified on doctors’ working hours, stating that they do not necessarily follow the normal 8 am to 5 pm schedule as they work odd shifts.
He further stated that he expected the media to focus on how doctors are subjected to frustrations as they fail to be paid by a number of county governments.
Natembeya, a career administrator and the former Rift Valley Regional Coordinator dared the nearly one hundred medics in the county to defy the directive.
