Patients trickle back to Mombasa hospitals after nurses end 10-day strike

Patients have started trickling back to hospitals in Mombasa a day after the nurses’ union struck a deal with the government that ended a 10-day strike that had paralysed services.

Nurses reported to work in various public hospitals in the county from as early as 8am on Thursday.

At the Coast Provincial General Hospital, the largest hospital in the region, expectant mothers who trickled in received ante-natal and delivery services.

The post-natal ward which had been closed during the entire period of the strike was also open and nurses and other staff could been seen spreading fresh linen on the beds ready to admit mothers from the delivery room.

Ward 1,2,3,4 and 5 were also reopened even though no patients were yet to be admitted.

During the nurses’ boycott, the only open places at the hospital were the orthopaedic ward, the new-born unit and labour ward where a few midwives assisted mothers to deliver.

“Yes, we are all back to work and our matron is also there,” a nurse at the post- natal ward said.

DOCTORS STILL ON STRIKE

But the nurses warned that they can only offer minimal services to patients since doctors are yet to resume work.

“We can assist in deliveries but our worry is [in the event of] an emergency case.

“In case we come across that our only option will be to inform the hospital administrator to [get] a doctor.

“With the help of clinical officers we can also help in providing treatment for minor ailments to patients,” added another nurse.

However, there was tragedy at the hospital after a patient who had been moved from a private hospital died on arrival.

PATIENT DIES

Joyce Auma, a 20-year-old diabetic patient, had been admitted to a private health centre in Mikindani but her family rushed her to the hospital after learning that nurses had called off their strike.

“When we heard nurses had resumed duty we thought doctors were also working. More so, we were told by the health workers in the private health facility where she was admitted to rush her here,” said her brother, Ochieng Omollo.

“We boarded a tuk tuk but there was jam along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway so we delayed for a while. She was pronounced dead by a nurse when we arrived at the emergency section.

“We brought her here because she had been admitted in this hospital before she was discharged during the health workers’ strike,” he added.

They later took her body to the hospital’s mortuary as they began burial arrangements.

OUTPATIENT SERVICES

At the Port Reitz Hospital nurses were helping the few psychiatric patients who had gone for outpatient services.

A few nurses who talked who talked to Nation confirmed they were offering outpatient services.

“We are waiting for patients who were initially admitted in our wards to come back. They were around 60 when we discharged them due to the strike,” said one nurse.

A doctor specialising in mental disorders in Mombasa said the patients who were receiving inpatient services at the hospital may relapse due to lack of treatment during the ten-day strike.

Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Mombasa Secretary Peter Muroko said even though nurses have resumed duty, no full services are being offered to patients.

“My members are back on duty but normalcy has not returned to hospitals because there are no doctors.

“Nurses and doctors need each other and, therefore, my appeal to the government is that they address this challenge,” he said.

Nurses called off their strike after their union officials signed a recognition agreement with their employers that will see them now earn up to Sh20,000 in monthly allowances.