The end of the strike will provide relief to those seeking public health services, especially following heavy rains and flooding that has killed 257 people since March, and displaced 293,661 people.

Kenya’s public hospital doctors on Wednesday signed a return to work agreement with the government meant to end a national strike that began two months ago and had left patients in limbo, union and government officials said.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), which represents more than 7,000 members, went on strike on March 15 to demand payment of their salary arrears and the immediate hiring of trainee doctors, among other grievances.

The Health ministry announced Wednesday evening that they had reached a deal with the public hospital doctors union and that officials had signed an agreement for a return-to-work formula.

“After 56 days, KMPDU signs agreement, ending nationwide doctors’ strike,” the ministry said.

Television footage showed the union’s officials and senior government officials shaking hands after signing the documents.

KMPDU secretary-general Dhavji Atellah said the doctors agreed to trust the government to implement an agreement to ensure the labour issues that caused the strike, including poor remuneration and working conditions, are resolved.

The doctors’ arrears arose from a 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA), KMPDU said. Doctors were also demanding the provision of adequate medical insurance coverage for themselves and their dependents.

“One thing we must assure everybody, every doctor, every person that the rights of workers as enshrined in the collective bargaining agreement that is signed is that it is sacrosanct, we will always endeavour to protect that,” Atellah said.

He said the hiring of interns demand was still pending in court, but it was agreed they would be posted within 60 days.

The government had said it couldn't afford to hire the trainee doctors due to financial pressure on the public purse.

Wednesday’s agreement followed a labour court directive that had given the doctors and the government 48 hours to reach a deal, failure to which the matter would be determined by the court.

Kenya’s Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha said the doctors had proved to be better negotiators than the government, adding that they had put up “quite a fight”.

The end of the strike comes as a relief to millions of Kenyans seeking health services from public hospitals, especially following heavy rains and flooding that has killed 257 people and displaced 293,661 people since March.

The Kenyan health sector, which doctors say is underfunded and understaffed, is routinely beset by strikes.

A strike in 2017 lasted three months – the longest ever held in the country – and saw doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals demand better wages and for the government to restore the nation’s dilapidated public health facilities.

Some doctors in private hospitals also downed their tools at various times during the COVID-19 pandemic to protest the lack of personal protective equipment and other grievances.

Another group of health workers, clinical officers, are still on strike in Kenya.