A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment
for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine: Bioethics and Health Law
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
January 2017 / Doctors serving in public health services in Kenya under the employment of the Government
went on strike in December 2011 and September 2012. The strikes were national and doctors
withdrew all their services including attending to emergencies in hospitals. The reasons for the
strikes were poor salaries, poor working conditions and poor state of public health services. The
aim of this research was to analyse legal and ethical aspects of the strikes by doctors in Kenya
and to explore ways to minimize harm to patients and society. The research examined the
circumstances and contexts of the strike to enable an understanding of the status of health
services and the nature of the demands by doctors. Kenyan laws relating to strikes were analysed
to ascertain legal compliance or violations during the strikes. Obligations of the medical
profession and ethical codes and rules of conduct for doctors were discussed in relation to the
strike. Ethical theories of deontology, consequentialism and virtue ethics were applied to
establish moral justification or lack thereof.
Analysis of the legal provisions of the Labour Relations Act No.14 of 2007 revealed that it did
not provide adequate processes for resolving trade disputes involving workers and employers in
essential services. Suggestions were made on some ways to improve the conciliation process to
foster appropriate resolution of disputes before strike action becomes necessary. Examination of
the reasons for the strikes and status of public health services revealed that there were compelling
reasons and circumstances for the strike action by doctors. It was acknowledged that harm and
benefits resulted from the strikes. Some grounds for moral justification of the strikes were
discussed and found valid. However, comprehensive justification of the strikes was difficult,
considering the professional and ethical obligations of doctors to society and to patients. In
particular the withdrawal of emergency services made it difficult to find moral justification for
the doctors‟ strikes. Failure to provide emergency services expunged any moral justification for
strike action. / MT2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/23188 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Muhudhia, Stephen Ombok |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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