Nandi medics still on strike will not receive their April salaries, Health chief officer Dr Edward Serem said yesterday.
The health department has obtained a court order directing the workers to return to work. The contracts of 44 workers were terminated last week and their files sent to the Health ministry for redeployment. County secretary Francis Ominde said the county has no powers to take disciplinary action against them.
“The nurses are said to have absconded duty since April 6 and as a government, we find them guilty and unwilling to work in Nandi,” he said on Monday.
Among those sent home are Kenya National Union of Nurses branch secretary Amos Ngetich and chairman Paul Sang. The two, however, dismissed the sacking, saying the strike is lawful.
Serem said 200 nurses have been hired and they will report to work on Monday. He said the Public Service Board received 1,000 applications. “These nurses will help ease pressure on doctors and clinical officers on duty,” Serem said.
He said the county has suspended remittances to the Kenya National Union of Nurses because it does not have an MoU with it.
The strike has paralysed operations in all 186 health facilities for three weeks. Health services temporarily resumed on Monday after residents protested. They stormed Nandi County Referral Hospital and demanded doctors, clinical officers, laboratory technicians and pharmacists to attend to them.
Nurses say they have not been paid salary arrears since July last year. County secretary Francis Ominde said the arrears will be effected in June. He said nurses will only be promoted if they meet the requirements outlined by the Public Service Commission.
On Tuesday, Senator Stephen Sang and woman representative Zipporah Kering separately held talks with nurses and asked them to report back to work. The nurses said they will only return when they get their promotion letters.