No work, no pay! Machakos county says as doctors strike

Nobody will be paid for absconding duty, Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s administration has warned.

The county’s top leadership made the announcement after doctors operating in the county downed tools on Wednesday following their 14-day strike notice’s expiry on October 8.

The healthcare providers are currently on strike.

Several patients were turned down, while those in wards remained unattended to in public hospitals across the county following the strike.

The doctors had last week, through a press briefing, indicated that they would down tools on today (Wednesday) if the county government’s leadership failed to heed to their demands.

Machakos County Public Service Board chairman Albanus Mutisya said the devolved unit lost about Sh77 million during the previous strike by the healthcare providers.

“We are considering that a loss because they never worked for 50 days, and when they came back, they were paid full salaries due to a return-to-work formula we got into with them,” Mutisya said.

Mutisya, together with the County Secretary and Head of Public Service Muiya Ndambuki, addressed the press at Governor Ndeti’s office in Machakos shortly after the doctors downed tools on Wednesday.

He added, “Now, the county government is concerned that anyone involved in a go slow or strike won’t get paid. We won’t pay if you don’t work. We have been in discussion with them, we have met all demands in the health department apart from one which we are discussing, promotions.”

Mutisya said they had promoted health workers for three consecutive years in 2021, 2022, and 2023, while no promotions had been effected on the other nine departments over the years.

Machakos County Government has ten departments. He said about 5, 000 county government employees are in other departments, not health.

Ndambuki said the recent national strike by doctors occurred despite fulfilment of all their demands. He said the medics participated in the strike in solidarity with their peers, resulting in a substantial financial impact of Sh77,554,679 for 182 medical officers, pharmacists, and dentists and 261 clinical officers during the 56 day period at a time when the county was in compliance with all issues they had raised.

“It’s worth noting that Machakos County employs more than 7,300 staff members. Promotions have been stagnant for some period, with some employees facing up to 15 years without advancement,” Ndambuki said.

“There have been promotions of healthcare professionals that were conducted in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and none for all other departments. In 2023, only 6 per cent of the staff received promotions."

Ndambuki said the county management was actively reviewing promotions for the remaining employee to avert further strikes. He said eligible staff were in the process of submitting their applications for processing.

Ndambuki said the county’s wage bill stands at 44 per cent, reduced from 49 per cent, surpassing the legal limit of 35 per cent.

“Any further increase to the wage bill could exacerbate our financial challenges. Notably, the health sector alone accounts for 53 per cent of the county’s wage bill, which contributes more than 52 per cent of total expenditures leaving only 47 per cent for the remaining nine departments,” he said.

He said the county government successfully promoted more than 420 healthcare officials in 2023.

“It had been agreed that promotion arrears will be disbursed over five months from August 2024 to December 2024 at a rate of Sh20 million per month. This has been implemented since August this year. The ongoing negotiations also include considerations for an additional 1, 265 healthcare officers alongside the remaining departments,” Ndambuki said.

The doctors had earlier told patients to prepare to seek healthcare services in neighboring counties as the October 8 notice lapsed.

"Patients, if you are able to afford alternative healthcare either from neighbouring counties or elsewhere, then, this is our forewarning that because we care about you, we don’t want to see a situation where you are stuck on Tuesday next week,” the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union, Lower Eastern branch chairman Dr Charles Okumu said at Machakos Level 5 Hospital on Saturday.

The officials held a joint presser with their colleagues from the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers and Kenya Public Health Union.