Mombasa County healthcare workers on Tuesday vowed to withdraw their skills from work, due to the pending March salary and the statutory deductions, starting Wednesday.
On April 11, The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Dentists Union (KMPDU) officials issued a notice of walkout to the national government in 12 counties which have not paid the March salary to their workers.
Mombasa and Taita Taveta were on the list in the Coast region.
In December 2022, Mombasa County Governor Abdulswamad Nassir signed an MOU with healthcare workers who had gone on strike due to the same issues of salary delays and unpaid statutory deductions.
He announced that county workers will be receiving their payments on the 28 of every month whenever there is a delay in the disbursement of funds from the National government.
On Tuesday, the healthcare workers accused the county boss and his administration of not keeping their promises and implementing what they had agreed on.
The KMPDU Mombasa branch chairperson Salim Ali said that the healthcare workers received their February salary on March 30.
He said they are now demanding their March salary and the statutory deductions which include the NHIF cover which was last paid on January 5.
“We are in April and we have not received our March salary, the statutory deductions have not been paid and now we do not know what to do.”
“We had an agreement and signed an MOU with the county government and some of the things we had agreed on up to now nothing has been done,” he said.
He said that people are suffering and being the holy month of Ramadhan, they are fasting with no food in their houses.
“ Schools are now closed and we are heading to the EID celebrations yet we do not know how we will do it. The schools will be opened in the next two weeks and we do not know how we will help each other,” he said.
“For now what we are saying is Enough, this is not a strike, this is a walkout, and this walkout is followed by a go slow. We will not accept people to go to work with hunger, no rent no transport and our rights being infringed and nothing is being done.”
He said that they have been called into meetings but they do not bear fruits.
He said that what is happening is affecting the lives of all healthcare workers.
“If a doctor goes to work while stressed, can patients get the treatment they deserve? All our human rights have been infringed therefore we only want one thing, we are ready for a dialogue, and we have not refused to do that.”
“We are ready but on one condition, we want to know when our March salary will be paid and when our NHIF cards will start working because we are giving services which we ourselves cannot get whenever we need them,” he said.
He called upon patients to seek health services from the nearest counties until that time their issues will be addressed.
The coast region KMPDU chairperson Niko Gichana said that healthcare workers tirelessly serve the community day in and day out.
“If we are that particular group of people that everybody considers key to our work, we ask, can we also be key when it comes to issues of finances,” he said.
“We ourselves are stressed, how do you treat a person when you are sick? This is not a selfish endeavour. We are just asking for our rights, we want to be given our dues.”
Ismael Ramadhan, the Kenya Union of clinical officers Mombasa branch chairperson said that they are so angry because they are being ignored and now they want the governor to review the agreement that they signed.
“Initially the governor had a dialogue with KCB bank regarding our payment but we do not know what transpired and he has not told us anything,” he said.
“Our people are being turned away from hospitals with no good treatment. We are receiving calls from banks that there are no deductions which have been made. To make the matter worse, the follow-up meeting on the signed MOU has not been done and no one is talking about it,” he said.
Kenya National Union of Nurses treasurer Mombasa branch Lelisa Mohammed said that parents, mothers and husbands are really depressed.
“We have spouses who are working in the same county and you find that both husband and wife have not been paid. We work like slaves in Mombasa therefore we want to call upon the governor to find a way of solving the problem,” she said.
They said that we want to be treated fairly just like any other group of workers.
On Wednesday, the healthcare workers are expected to hold a salary parade where they will go to the governor’s office to ask for their dues.