Governor Jonathan Bii has said his
county is negotiating with nurses to
end the three-week-long strike that
has paralysed health services.
However, the county chief declined to discuss details of the talks. “Don’t ask about the nurses strike because we are in talks to end the strike,” Bii said.
He was speaking at the Uasin Gishu County Hospital where he flagged off Sh5 million drugs for distribution to all county hospitals.
“We now have adequate drugs in all our hospitals as we start the new year and we will sort out all other challenges so our people access quality services,” Bii said.
The nurses union last week threatened to call a strike at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to support nurses striking at public hospitals.
The union said the county is not serious about improving nurses’ welfare.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses headed by Secretary General Seth Panyako said the county was taking advantage of the availability of the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret to ignore the plight of its own nurses.
“If they think they will ignore our nurses because Moi Referral Hospital will handle the situation, then we will escalate the strike to paralyse even the referral hospital,” Panyako said.
He said the county has until January 15, to resolve the strike, otherwise, the union would call for a boycott at MTRH.
He also asked President William Ruto to call out officials of his county for ignoring the plight of patients. Panyako spoke in Eldoret after a meeting with the union’s Uasin Gishu branch.
The strike has entered the third week with no significant efforts so far to resolve their grievances, the nurses say.
They have accused Bii’s administration of refusing to engage their union for a CBA.
Panyako issued the strike notice on December 16 to the county government and the Ministry of Health. Besides the delayed CBA negotiations, the nurses are also protesting delayed promotions and citing nine other grievances.
They also accuse the county of failing to implement the 2024 SRC salary structure and failing to convert UHC nurses to 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.
This has stalled career progression. “The county has also been delaying remittance of statutory deductions, thus exposing the workers to losses, including bank penalties.”
He said they would not resume
work until all their demands are
met.