Striking Kenyan Doctors Spared Jail Today

A Kenyan court has given doctors and nurses a further five days to end nationwide strike, reports the Kenyan newspaper The Star.

Union officials had been threatened with jail had the strike not ended today.

The medics have been demanding the government honour a 2013 deal to increase salaries.

They have rejected a government offer of a 40% rise saying that it fell short of the 2013 promises.

About 5,000 medical staff in more than 2,000 public hospitals stopped working in the first week of December and patients have been unable to get basic care.

Hellen Wasilwa, a judge at Kenya’s Employment and Labour Relations Court, said the five-day reprieve is “not for negotiation but for calling off the strike”, reports AFP news agency.