Nyeri nurses adamant as strike enters fourth day

The Nyeri County government has come under pressure to address health workers’ grievances and end a strike that has crippled services in the region’s hospitals.

Nyeri County Referral Hospital’s gates remained closed on Wednesday and its compound deserted as the strike entered the third day. Security guards away patients who were seeking services unaware of the situation.

Relatives of patients who were already admitted to the hospital continued to transfer them to private and mission health facilities. Patients who were critically ill were transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi.

In Karatina, nurses from the Karatina Sub-County Hospital marched through the town, chanting slogans.

Though no deaths have been reported as a result of the strike, some patients have continued to suffer in silence in the wards in the public hospitals.

INCREASED INFLUX

Talks between county government officials and the workers’ representatives have failed. A return-to-work formula that was being negotiated on Tuesday hit a roadblock after county chiefs asked to be given until October to meet the workers’ demands.

Mr Cyrus Muriithi, whose son had been admitted to the referral hospital, pleaded with the county government to restore services. “Where should I take my son yet I cannot afford health services offered in private hospitals?” he said.

Private and mission hospitals in the county have recorded an increased influx of patients due to the strike that started on Monday.

At Mathari Consolata Mission Hospital, staff have been overstretched, as it has reached its maximum capacity.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union blamed the crisis being experienced across counties on haphazard devolution of health services.

The services are on the brink of collapse due to mismanagement of human resource in the sector, according to Dr Samuel Oroko, the union’s chairman.

“We will push for the return on the health ministry to the National Government. The county governments have proven they cannot handle the provision of health services,” he said.

Dr Oroko, who spoke in Nyeri Town on Wednesday, warned county governments that owed doctors salary arrears that they would face industrial action.

ISSUED NOTICE

Meanwhile, doctors, pharmacists and dentists in Nyeri issued a seven-day strike notice, protesting inconsistency in salary payments, delayed promotions and withdrawn allowances.

“The county government is busy making reforms in the health infrastructure forgetting that the human resource is more important,” said Mr Davis Ombui, the doctors’ union’s acting chairman.

In Vihiga County, nurses on Wednesday threatened to down tools on September 7 to protest salary delays.

Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Secretary-General Seth Panyako, in a notice to the Executive, wants seven grievances addressed.

In the document, the union demands that the salaries of its members be paid on or before the fifth day of every month.

Nurses would go on strike every sixth day of the month if the salaries are not paid by the previous date, the notice warns.

Mr Panyako also cited delayed promotions and the failure to implement new house allowances as directed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission on December 10, 2014, among other grievances.

“The union will remain open to dialogue in the interim period up to September 6,” he said.

ABANDONED PLAN

Meanwhile, health workers in Uasin Gishu County have called off their strike that was scheduled for next week.

Knun National Chairman John Bii on Wednesday said the union’s members had abandoned the strike plan after holding a “successful” meeting with the county government on Tuesday.

The meeting resolved all contentious issues contained in the union’s strike notice dated August 13, 2015, he told journalists at the Uasin Gishu District Hospital in Eldoret Town.

In Nakuru, 20 doctors have been suspended by the county government for defying a directive to return to work.

Doctors who were posted to the county by the National Government in April and were on probation are among those suspended.

County Chief Health Officer Samuel Mwaura said he would issue a comprehensive statement on the matter.

The doctors’ union Secretary-General for South Rift Oruko Sitima confirmed the suspension but said the affected were yet to receive letters.

Additional reporting by Derick Luvega, Dennis Lubanga, Benard Ogembo and Fatuma Arfun