Coast nurses plan to go on strike over unpaid dues

Nurses from Mombasa have threatened to go on strike in seven days over what they say are pertinent issues that they want addressed by the county government.

If they go ahead with the planned strike, services at the Coast General Hospital, the largest referral hospital in the region, are likely to be crippled.

Over 300 nurses were planning to match to the county government offices over unpaid dues and lack of drugs and support facilities.

Tuesday, Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Coast chapter staged a peaceful demonstration outside the hospital.

This, they said, was a rehearsal of their planned strike if their demands are not addressed in the next seven days.

They lamented that some departments such as the maternity and theatre are made to work with only one nurse on duty at times and with no support equipment.

DELAYED SALARIES

The nurses accused the county government of not informing them why their salaries were delayed and dragging their feet in providing drugs and non- pharmaceuticals for treatment.

This had forced them to ask patients to purchase the items elsewhere yet the safety of the items could not be guaranteed.

Salaries for permanent health workers have been delayed for a month while those working on contract for two to three months lacked gloves, syringes, needles, gloves, spirits among other medical supplies, they complained.

Knun Branch Trustee Stanley Mwailogho said that the hospital’s labour ward had an average of 60 deliveries daily while it had only nine nurses who serve in the three daily shifts.

He noted that even though there were a total of 16 nurses assigned to the labour ward, situations like job leaves and work offs meant only three were available at any given time.

He pointed out that the nursery which accommodates 60 babies was served by only two nurses.

Normally, each baby is supposed to be monitored by one nurse.

BABIES SHARE INCUBATORS

Most of the babies have also to share the few incubators available which was against medical standards.

“Because of this shortage, some mothers deliver without assistance and this has generated a lot of noise from the public,” Mr Mwailogho said.

He further added that being a referral hospital, it handled many cases from Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu, Garissa and Voi who came with complications only to find one nurse.

Knun Mombasa branch secretary Peter Maroko said that nurses currently working under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) have offered services to the county for the past two months without salaries.

“The union will advise its members to withdraw their services in seven days until the government employs more nurses to curb the shortage and absorbs nurses and health workers currently working under the ESP,” the Knun official said.

He noted that the ESP workers who were employed to avert a health crisis in hospitals had been promised they would be made permanent and pensionable at the end of their contract. This had not been the case, he lamented.

EMPLOY MORE NURSES

He demanded that the government employs more nurses to curb the shortage being experienced in Likoni District, Tudor District and Port Reitz.

He also demanded that the county government releases conditional grant from the national government for use at the Coast General Hospital and provides drugs and other non-pharmaceuticals to avert a crisis.

He further called on the government to remit all deductions from members immediately and involve the union in the rationalisation exercise to be undertaken in the County.

“Mombasa County has already put these health demands on the table and we have a number of letters that we have written to the county government officers but no response has been forthcoming.

“Instead we got a circular informing us that we were not going to receive our salary until further notice. This is a very casual way of addressing a pertinent issue and we will go to the county government today to ask for our salaries,” he said.

In a circular released on Monday by the Acting County Director of Health Dr Shem Patta the health workers were told that the July 2014 salaries had been delayed and the generation of pay slips had not been effected.

On Thursday last week, acting County Finance Executive Hazel Koitaba issued a letter saying the county government would not be able to pay the July Salaries until further notice.

NOT YET ON STRIKE

Mr Maroko, however, clarified that the nurses were not yet on strike and called on them to attend to their duties until the seven days are over. He said only the union’s secretary general had the power to call for a strike.

“We are only asking for our salaries which have not been paid to date. What we are sending to Nairobi are resolutions that we have passed as a branch so that they can be ratified by the national office as we prepare to call for the strike,” he added.

The Knun official said that since the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) stopped supplying medication to the counties after devolution, there have been consistent delays from the new suppliers contracted by the county governments.

The nurses are currently on a go slow as some of them say they may be forced to walk to work since they had exhausted their savings and had no fare to and from work.

“Some of us come from Mtwapa, Port Reitz and Likoni. How are we going to get to work early if we have nothing in our pockets? This delay in salaries is messing our planning and budgeting; we are running in debt,” an affected nurse said.