Pumwani nurses insist strike is on but Nairobi County officials say there is no strike

Are the nurses at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital on a work boycott or not?

While the nurses say they are, county government officials who run the hospital say there is no strike and the facility is offering services as expected.

The county government said in a newspaper advert Sunday the go-slow has been called off and it will take action against workers who abscond from work at the referral hospital.

But the 186 health workers who claimed the contents of the advert applied to a previous boycott have vowed not to resume work unless the issues they have raised are addressed, chief among them being insecurity.

Representatives from the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), led by Nairobi Branch Chairperson Lucy Kamau distanced themselves from the advert that called off the go-slow.

“Why is the county quick to dismiss our grievances? The timing of this advert is not a true reflection of events at Pumwani.

“We asked for the advert in March as part of an agreement to end a past strike and not the current impasse. Our nurses will not be working.

“A sit-in can only be called off by the nurses’ union not county officials,” Ms Kamau said.

PAST AND PRESENT GO-SLOW

However, the director of communications at the Nairobi governor’s office Walter Mong’are said the advert applied to both the past and the present go-slow.

“If our partners have called you to refute any part of the statement, I can confirm that no union official has called anyone of us to dispute any part of the statement that is now public.

“There is no current sit-in in Pumwani. However there is a low turnout of mothers visiting.

“All workers should be working. Otherwise, action will be taken against those who do not return to work as stated,” Mr Mong’are said.

RESUMPTION OF SERVICES

On Sunday, the county put up a full page advertisement, signed by an unnamed acting county executive committee member – health services — announcing the resumption of services at the hospital after a go-slow by staff was called off.

However, it did not clarify which sit-in was being cancelled.

On Saturday, KNUN issued a seven-day ultimatum to both the national and county governments to take action to rebuild public trust and tackle insecurity at Pumwani.

Union general-secretary Seth Panyako asked the government to construct a police station within the hospital similar to the one at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Also in their list of demands is an increase to nurses and redeployment of the current health workers to other health institutions in a bid to restore the lost public confidence in the hospital.

Nairobi chapter KNUN Organising Secretary Lenpike Mutunga Kioko who was part of the delegation said the current go-slow was brought about by an incident on Monday night, April 6, 2015 when relatives of a mother who had delivered a baby who died soon after birth demanded to know what caused the baby’s death.

He said: “The nurses were terrorised by over 20 angry boys who locked the hospital gate and threatened them.

“The following morning the nurses reporting to work put down their tools demanding to be ensured of their protection as they worked.”