The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Davji Atellah was hurt in the head by an object believed to be a bullet during Thursday’s protests in Nairobi.
But police denied claims of shooting.
The doctors had staged the protest in efforts to push for the posting of medical interns.
They were marching to Treasury Building from Afya Centre, the ministry of health headquarters when police dispersed them.
This caused confusion and chaos during which Atellah was hit in the head.
Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei denied there was a bullet fired in the incident.
“I suspect they hurt each other as they were running away from police who dispersed them,” he said.
He said no officer in the group of anti riot officers was armed or fired.
“We will know more later,” he said of the Thursday afternoon incident.
The doctors were protesting as the February deadline agreed upon in a meeting between the Ministry of Health and the doctors’ union ended.
The union wrote to the Nairobi area Regional police commander asking him to provide security during the procession.
The police did not respond to their request and had declared the protest illegal.
The procession started from Upper Hill and proceeded to Afya House and then to the Treasury when the chaos broke out near Haile Selassie Avenue.
The injured official was rushed to hospital bleeding from the head.
The interns and union officials led by the SG assembler at KMA centre for the procession which started at 9:30 am.
The union condemned the attack on the official by what they called.
“The doctors of Kenya have endured enough! This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said a post on the union’s X account.
Nyanza KMPDU official Dr Onyango Ndonga said their NEC was having a crisis meeting and they will guide on the next step.
“This is an affront to rights and liberties of unionism and to us a dagger right through our very hearts. We shall overcome. Prepare for drastic action in both public and Private facilities,” he said in a message to the members.
Atellah had asked members to turn up for the protest.
“We cannot leave our fate at the mercy of the others. We know what is rightfully ours, and we must come out for it. If there are no struggles, there can be no progress; it is not time for promises. It is time for action,” Atellah said.
According to KMPDU, 1,215 medical interns are awaiting posting with some having waited for either six months or one year.
Last week, the union held a meeting with 611 interns in Nairobi during which it was agreed that posting of all pending interns be done by March 1.
“We expect all the interns to be reporting to their respective by March 1 otherwise on February 29 we will all go to the Ministry of Health to collect these letters,” the SG said last week.
Atellah said the delay in posting the interns not only tramples upon their constitutional rights but also places an imminent threat on patient care within public hospitals.
He added the delay is not just a convenience but also hinders their ability to fulfill their duties hence an impediment to their career progression.
The unions on February 15 held a meeting with the health CS Susan Nakhumicha on the matter.
In the Thursday meeting, the ministry withdrew the earlier communiqué indicating posting would be done in July.
The ministry blamed the delay in posting interns on the failure of the Treasury to release funds on time.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874