Striking nurses fume at KMTC students

Nurses in Samburu demonstrate against Sara Serem-led Salaries and Remuneration Commission for failing to sign their Collective Bargaining Agreement on July 7, 2017. PHOTO | GODFREY OUNDOH | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • More than 30 days into the countrywide nurses’ strike, operations at the Nyeri Referral Hospital have remained uninterrupted, thanks to newly hired nurses by the county government.

  • Patients are now sharing beds in the maternity, female and male wards as the hospital grapples with rising traffic.

Kenya National Union of Nurses officials want student nurses attending to patients in public hospitals withdrawn.

The students have stepped in to help patients when nurses boycotted work to demand signing, registration and implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement.

RISK

But Knun acting secretary-general Morris Opetu on Friday said Kenya Medical Training College was posting unqualified students to attend to patients in hospitals, putting their lives in jeopardy.

"Nurses who are members of the union and student nurses working while the rest of us are on strike will face stern action. The strike was meant for all of us," he said.

They threatened to deregister principals in charge of the medical training colleges and take stern action on the students who accept to work without mentors.

Ms Wangeci Munderu, the Knun treasurer, said the nurses who belong to the union and have remained on duty will be fined 2.5 per cent of their gross pay once the CBA has been signed.

TRAFFIC

More than 30 days into the countrywide nurses’ strike, operations at the Nyeri Referral Hospital have remained uninterrupted, thanks to newly hired nurses by the county government.

Patients are now sharing beds in the maternity, female and male wards as the hospital grapples with rising traffic.

Since the onset of the strike, the facility has received patients from Kirinyaga, Laikipia, Murang’a and Kiambu and as far as Isiolo and Samburu.

Operations in public hospitals around the country have been hit by the job boycott.

Mr Opetu also cautioned Kenyans to stop taking their patients to hospitals, saying qualified nurses are not working.

CONTRACT

"We want to tell the community that they are risking their lives when they allow their patients to be attended by unqualified nurses," he said.

Nyeri County government hired 65 new nurses and promoted 438 others in May following a longstanding push and pull over poor staffing and terms of service

The new nurses were hired on contract.

The nurses insisted that the strike is legal and will not call it off until county governments honour their CBAs.