The government’s withdrawal of a Sh14.5 billion offer for striking doctors was drastic, the Senate Health committee chairman has said.
Wilfred Machage said he did not agree with the uncompromising health workers but that the government should give them a chance and reconsider the cancellation.
“I think the government should have waited a little longer before taking these drastic measures,” he told the 4th Annual Devolution Conference in Naivasha, Nakuru county, on Thursday.
“You cannot replace doctors [who have been practising in Kenya] with those who have no experience.”
The chairman, who is Migori Senator, said he hoped President Uhuru Kenyatta would rescind his decision.
The government had proposed the “good gesture” of backdating health workers’ risk allowances to July 2016, a package that would cost a total of Sh600 million.
The alternative was backdating the emergency allowance to October 2016, an expense that would have added up to Sh570 million.
