Nurses union has threatened to call a strike at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to support the ongoing strike by nurses employed by Uasin Gishu government.
Kenya National Union of Nurses secretary general Seth Panyako Governor Jonathan Bii snubbed talks that were seeking to resolve more than nine issues.
He said the county is taking advantage of the availability of services at MTRH to ignore the plight of its own nurses.
“If they think they will ignore our nurses because MTRH will handle the situation then we will escalate the strike to paralyse even the referral hospital,” Panyako said.
He said the county has upto January 15 to resolve the strike.
Panyako also asked President William Ruto to ensure his home county gives good care to patients.
“We are telling the President charity begins at home and he must act to ensure medical services in his home county resume,” Panyako said.
He spoke in Eldoret after a meeting with Uasin Gishu union officials.
The Uasin Gishu nurses’ strike entered the third week with no efforts so far to resolve their grievances.
The nurses are accusing Bii’s administration of refusing to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with their union.
Panyako issued the strike notice on December 16 to the county government and the Ministry of Health.
The nurses are also protesting delayed promotions.
Knun branch secretary Klein Kimutai said the county has also failed to re-designate nurses who have specialised in different fields.
“We wrote to the county government detailing all our nine grievances which should be resolved before we go back to work,” he said.
The nurses also want the county to implement the 2024 SRC salary structure and employ UHC nurses on permanent and pensionable terms.
Panyako said the county failed to implement the National Registered CBA for seconded nurses and also failed to implement the 17 tier grading structure for the nurses, leading to stalled career progression.
“The county has also been delaying remittance of statutory deductions thus exposing the workers to bank penalties,” he said.
Uasin Gishu county has more than 138 health facilities whose services have been affected by the nurses’ strike.
The county has more than 700
nurses, including 400 who are on
permanent and pensionable terms.