Migori county government and the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers have held talks to avert a possible industrial action.
On Tuesday, deputy governor Gimunta Mahiri and union officials led by national chairman Peterson Wachira met in Migori town and held talks in addition to agreeing on a road map.
The main contention ironed out was a 2019 industrial action by clinical officers where they claimed they had not been paid for months.
The union went to court and sought court orders to prompt payment.
“We will have a team set up to audit and review the payment because some clinical officers were paid and others did not, afterwards we will factor this in the forthcoming supplementary budget,” Mahiri said.
"We are planning on new recruitments and promotions which will go in line with Salaries and Remuneration Commission guidelines.”
Wachira said in Migori several health facilities do have clinical officers and those employed are strained and do not take part in the board of management of hospitals or dispensaries.
“We have agreed to place a directorate of clinical medicine in the health department headed by clinical officers to help at the management level,” Wachira said.
The union’s Migori secretary general Morena Maramba said that the county has 160 public health facilities against only 135 clinical officers employed.
She said at the Migori Teaching and Referral Hospital there are only seven clinical officers while the facility should have about 30 and a subcounty-level hospital should have at least 14 medics.
“From these numbers, we are still lagging greatly which has seen patients preferring to go to private hospitals as they take longer to be treated in public hospitals,” she said.
During the meeting, the group agreed to work closely with Governor Ochillo Ayacko's administration to ensure the health docket is streamlined and services to the public are smooth.
