Lab staff threaten to strike over cut perks

Laboratory technicians have threatened to go on strike over strenuous allowances which might lead to a paralysis of hospitals.

More than 2,000 lab technicians said they will join about 3,000 doctors in their strike after the government reduced their allowances from Sh40,000 to Sh20,000 for a senior lab technologist.

A junior technician’s allowance was slashed to Sh7,500 from Sh15,000.

Lab techs, as they are commonly known, perform a wide range of laboratory tests; from simple pre-natal blood tests, to more complex ones to uncover diseases such as malaria, HIV/Aids, diabetes and cancer.

They are also responsible for confirming the accuracy of test results, and reporting laboratory findings to pathologists and other medical specialists.

Kenyatta National Hospital has about 200 lab technicians while Eldoret’s Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital has 150.

The rest are spread across other government hospitals. Private hospitals have about 2,000 lab techs.

Last week, doctors threatened to go on strike after claiming that a return-to-work formula they signed with the government in December last year did not materialise.

Speaking to the Nation on Wednesday, Association of Kenya Medical Laboratory Scientists Organisation chairman Moses Lore said the government had rescinded on its promise to pay the allowances.

“We wonder why they have made an about-turn yet they had agreed to pay us the allowances at the beginning of the year,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Medical Services had promised to respond to their grievances next week.

“If they won’t have come up with a solution by then, we shall resort to the strike with physicians whose full allowances have not been effected to cause a total paralysis in hospitals,” Mr Lore said.