Operations at the Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) came to a standstill on Monday when medics and support staff at the facility downed their tools.
The health workers were protesting working conditions at the Level 6 facility as they called for urgent intervention of the Ministry of Health.
Grievances raised include alleged sexual harassment, long working hours, and waiver of staff medical bills for those in critical care departments, among others.
The staff also cited the recent suspension of hospital Chief Executive Ahmed Dagane, who was sent on compulsory leave by the board.
Dr Isaac Kamau was appointed CEO in an acting capacity.
Hundreds of patients seeking services at the facility were left stranded as the industrial action took effect.
The management attempted to address the press, but they were
prevented by protesting staff who demanded Dagane’s reinstatement.
The unionists, led by Dr Vincent Oyiengo of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union and Justin Kinoti of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, gave the hospital management 24 hours to act on their demands or face total withdrawal of services.
Among the grievances, employees want payment of nurses and doctors uniform allowances, risk extraneous allowances, and radiation exposure allowances for staff working in radiology.
The board chaired by Prof Olive Mugenda sent Dagane on leave last week.
Efforts by Kamau to address the media and the protesting
workers were met with resistance; they called for his immediate vacation of the
CEO’s office.
A petition by the staff undersigned by representatives from
Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and Kenya
National Union of Nurses (KNUN) outlined 10 demands from the medical and
non-medical staff.
Noting that most of the employees had begun working at the institution in 2019, the memo noted that the staff had lamented since the pandemic but conditions at the hospital remain unchanged.
The memo went on to direct the management to declare its stance on sexual harassment at the workplace.
