Ministry hires nurses to replace striking ones

Recruitment of nurses to replace the striking ones is ongoing.

Chief Nursing Officer Chris Rakuom on Monday said deployment of the new nurses would begin immediately after Christmas.

“We are currently recruiting new nurses. We are waiting for returns and soon we will begin deployment,” said Mr Rakuom in an interview with the Nation.

He said although the amnesty that the government gave the striking nurses to resume duty elapsed a week ago, they could still go back to their work stations before they are replaced.

“We are receiving returns from hospitals of those who have not reported, and we will replace them immediately,” he said.

Medical Services Minister Anyang Nyong’o asked the striking health workers to report to work by December 17 and those who defied the order were to receive sacking letters the following day.

Mr Rakuom said since the nurses had failed to honour the minister’s directive, they would face the sack.

“As far as we are concerned, nurses have resumed duty but we will have the report from the work stations and act on it appropriately. Our duty as civil servants is to implement the minister’s directives,” he said.

But the nurses seemed to have defied Prof Nyong’o’s order as a spot check by the Nation in public hospitals, especially in Nairobi, indicated a low turnout.

Secretary-general of the unregistered Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Seth Panyako said they would not be intimated by threats from the minister.

“We want to register our union so that we can have a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Is registering a union too much to ask? We refuse to be intimidated,” he said.

He dismissed the minister’s order to sack striking nurses, saying only the Public Service Commission has the mandate of hiring and firing public servants.

The nurses have been on strike since December 3, demanding the registration of their union. They are also pushing for permanent employment of 6,000 nurses on contract.

The secretary-general maintained that forming their own union and having a directorate for nursing is the only solution to solving the impasse.

Mr Panyako said they welcomed the hiring of nurses, saying it was long overdue.

“The country is currently faced with a shortage of 50, 000 nurses. Next year there will be a 55, 000-nurse shortage when 5,000 retire. He can as well make an early recruitment,” he said.