KENYAN doctors stopped providing emergency services at public hospitals today as they escalated a national strike that entered its second week.

Thousands of doctors have stayed away from hospitals since last Thursday over poor pay and working conditions, despite a court order calling for talks between the doctors and the Health Ministry.

Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union secretary-general Dr Davji Bhimji said the doctors escalated the strike and stopped providing bare-minimum services because the government had shown no efforts to resolve the dispute.

He said: “We managed to close the emergency services that were being offered at the Kenyatta national referral hospital.”

Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha said on Wednesday that she had instructed two top referral hospitals to recruit doctors to replace those taking part in the national strike.

“We will not allow a crisis to happen. We cannot afford to have a gap,” she said, adding that doctors were offered temporary replacements starting on Wednesday night.

The ministry was due to issue letters to 1,000 medical junior doctors who will be posted in various hospitals across the country.

The striking doctors accuse the government of failing to implement a raft of promises, including a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people die from lack of care.