Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) officials have earlier today been sentenced to a one-month jail term for contempt of court.

This is after the seven KMPDU officials failed to reach an agreement with the government and call of the doctor’s strike as directed by Judge Hellen Wasilwa last week when she suspended their jail term and directed Central Organization of Trade Union (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli to lead negotiations to bring an end to the industrial action.

Judge Hellen Wasilwa had issued an arrest warrant to the doctor’s union officials early last month for defying a court order demanding that they allow for a 90-days negotiation period before calling for the strike.

“This court find that there is no sufficient reason why the court should the review its orders and therefore this court declines to review these orders and sentences the applicants to a one-month jail term,” said Justice Hellen Wasilwa in her ruling.

The doctors have however been adamant on the implementation of the 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) while the government, on the other hand, has been pushing for a new CBA.

Healthcare at public hospitals, where majority of Kenyans seek medical attention, has remained paralyzed since the doctors went for the countrywide strike in December 2016.