8,500 medics deployed to Covid frontlines cry foul

The 8,571 health workers who were deployed to Covid-19 frontlines under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme in 2020 have accused the government of shortchanging them.

The health workers, whose contracts are set to expire next month, were dispatched to  all the 47 counties four years ago by the Health ministry and promised of  permanent and pensionable terms. 

“At the height of the pandemic when the country faced a dire need for a health workforce to address the severe shortage, we were called to serve. Some of our colleagues died as they tried to keep Kenyans safe,” Desmond Wafula, UHC countrywide chairperson told Healthy Nation.

Mr Wafula said they hoped that the government would reassess their terms of service as a gesture of appreciation post-pandemic.

“We were mindful of the challenging economic circumstances brought about by the pandemic at the time of deployment; hence we prioritised saving lives first.”

The health workers, who downed their tools last week, now want the government to honour the promises it made to them.

“An agreement was signed during the Kericho Declaration that our terms shall be transitioned to permanent. While in service on contract terms, receiving half pay salary with no allowances or salary increments as well as  being subjected to all deductions that may arise such as housing levy is very painful and leaves us with nothing,” said Mr Wafula.

 He said it is shocking that county governments have been continuously advertising various health positions while excluding staff under the UHC programme.

He claimed that county governments seem to prefer newly graduated health workers over experienced individuals who have been working under the programme.

Over time, some of the health workers have quitted. “We lost some of the friends during the pandemic, the ones who paid the ultimate prize of sacrificing for the nation,” said Mr Wafula.

He noted that they have since 2020 exhausted other avenues before deciding to go to the streets.

On  July 11, 2023, the Senate Health committee held a meeting with Health CS  Susan Nakhumicha, Council of Governors chairperson for the committee then represented by  Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and the petitioners (representatives of the UHC health workers).

The goal was to chart a way forward on the issues of concern, which is the transition of the health workers under UHC contract across the 47 counties to permanent and pensionable terms.

Governor Sakaja reiterated that the contracts were to be further renewed for three years as per the agreement arrived at during the first inter-governmental retreat held on February 2023 under the same terms (half pay and no allowances) as they wait to absorb them into permanent and pensionable terms when vacancies arise in the counties.

“ Ironically, this has been opposite of what all the governors have been doing, including Governor Sakaja himself, during the deployment of the recent batch of 1,700 health workers.

“Nairobi County ensured that the UHC workers did not get those jobs and  only those under the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services contract were considered,” said Mr Wafula.

 On the same day, CS Nakhumicha informed the Senator Julius Murgor-led committee that the Health ministry was then in consultation with the Public Service Commission and had renewed the UHC staff contracts for a further one year as the Health ministry and the Council of Governors discussed options and strategies to transition them  to permanent and pensionable terms.

But this is yet to happen.

“It is very unfortunate that the one-year extension is elapsing next month and there has been no clear communication from the Health CS as per what she had promised that the terms of service for UHC staff would be translated into permanent terms,” Mr wafula noted, adding that Parliament has also assured them that it would see to it that there is a budgetary allocation for the same.

Mr Wafula added that they have so far not received the gratuities for their previous three-year term that elapsed in 2023.

 “Also, our employer, the government,  has not been remitting our NSSF deductions,” said Patrick Kinoti , a clinical officer under the UHC programm,e at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital.

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