The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists' Union (KMPDU) has aggressively issued a severe seven-day strike notice to Mombasa County following the highly controversial and fiercely debated suspension of Dr. Iqbal Khandwalla.

A major healthcare crisis is rapidly looming over Kenya's coastal region as medical professionals draw a definitive line in the sand. The KMPDU has officially triggered a countdown to a comprehensive work stoppage, citing blatant political intimidation and severe violations of due process.

The increasingly turbulent relationship between highly trained medical professionals and regional county administrations across Kenya continues to be a massive, highly volatile flashpoint. The sudden, heavily politicised suspension of Dr. Khandwalla has severely ignited deep-seated, long-simmering frustrations within the powerful medical fraternity. This rapidly escalating standoff is not merely an isolated, localized labor dispute; it is a profound, highly symbolic battle for absolute professional autonomy and workplace safety that heavily resonates across the entire East African medical landscape.

The Catalyst of Conflict

In a strongly worded, heavily publicized official letter disseminated on their various X accounts and official channels, the KMPDU meticulously outlined their deep, highly serious concerns regarding the seemingly arbitrary actions relentlessly taken by the Mombasa County Government. The medical union has explicitly and aggressively termed the sudden suspension of Dr. Khandwalla as blatant, undeniable political intimidation operating deeply within the county's public health facilities, labeling the administrative move as fundamentally unethical and highly destructive to staff morale.

The County Government of Mombasa initially attempted to publicly defend the controversial suspension, describing it to the press as a purely standard, routine procedural step while actively attempting to assure the general public of a completely impartial, unbiased investigative process. However, the KMPDU completely rejected this sanitized narrative, stating unequivocally that the highly suspicious circumstances immediately surrounding this punitive action raise incredibly serious, undeniable concerns about underlying, deeply political motives rather than genuine administrative oversight.

Scaling Down Medical Services

In direct, highly aggressive response to what they accurately perceive as a severely hostile, completely unsafe working environment, the KMPDU has explicitly directed all its registered members stationed in Mombasa County to immediately prioritise their own personal safety above all else. Consequently, the union has officially announced a drastic, severe limitation of daily medical services across all public facilities.

• All routine medical services will be strictly and immediately limited exclusively to extreme emergency and critical life-saving care.
• All scheduled, non-emergency consultants' clinics will be completely suspended indefinitely.
• All elective surgical procedures will be summarily canceled until the highly contentious dispute is fully and permanently resolved.

This drastic, highly disruptive scaling down of essential healthcare services will undoubtedly have a massive, devastating impact on the thousands of vulnerable coastal residents who heavily rely entirely on heavily subsidized public health facilities. The agonizing backlog of severely delayed elective surgeries alone will ultimately cost the struggling regional economy millions in lost productivity, equivalent to hundreds of millions of KES, exacerbating an already fragile, highly stressed public healthcare system.

The Broader East African Context

The ongoing, highly destructive phenomenon of debilitating medical strikes is a persistent, deeply tragic reality across the wider East African region. Medical professionals consistently demand significantly better, much safer working conditions, highly reliable, timely remuneration, and absolute freedom from toxic, overbearing political interference. When local county governments, tasked with the immensely critical responsibility of heavily managing devolved healthcare, resort to aggressive, heavy-handed, deeply intimidating tactics, the entire healthcare infrastructure inevitably collapses under the immense, unbearable strain.

The highly anticipated expiration of the KMPDU's seven-day strike notice, definitively set for early March 2026, represents a critical, incredibly tense ticking time bomb for the Mombasa County administration. Failure to quickly, amicably, and professionally resolve the escalating crisis will inevitably plunge the entire coastal healthcare system into absolute, unmitigated chaos. The ongoing standoff serves as a stark, highly visible warning to other regional county governments regarding the severe, disastrous consequences of completely alienating their most highly trained, utterly essential medical personnel.

A Demand for Due Process

Ultimately, the KMPDU is fiercely demanding strict, unwavering adherence to established, legally binding labor laws and basic, fundamental human decency. The union correctly insists that any legitimate disciplinary action taken against any medical professional must strictly follow completely transparent, deeply unbiased, and legally sound procedures, completely entirely devoid of any shadowy political manipulation.

"Doctors in Mombasa County will prioritize their safety above all; we absolutely refuse to operate in an environment heavily dictated by fear and blatant intimidation," read a defiant portion of the union's official statement.