- Clinicians want permanent and pensionable terms for those hired during Covid-10 period.
- They want state and counties to hire 20,000 unemployed qualified clinicians to cover shortage.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The health sector on Monday will be hit by another walkout as clinical officers made good their threat to join the doctor’ strike.
Doctor have been on strike since March 14 over pay and working conditions. No end is in sight.
The Kenya Union of Clinical Officers had last week issued a seven-day strike notice for their grievances to be addressed, otherwise they walk off the job until further notice.
KUCO chairperson Peterson Wachira on Sunday said the strike decision was necessitated by failure by the two levels of government to heed their demands despite a strike notice.
"Once we leave tonight, we will not be coming back before we get what we set out to get," Wachira said.
They are demanding that the national and county governments issue confirmation letters on permanent and pensionable terms to UHC staff hired during the Covid-19 period and to national TB programme clinicians and all members currently on contractual terms.
They also want the national government and counties to recruit more than 20,000 unemployed and qualified clinical officers to cover the existing shortage.
The union also demands the government provides comprehensive medical cover for all actively serving clinical officers in the public sector so they can access services wherever they need them.
Speaking during a media briefing in Nairobi, KUCO Secretary General George Gibore said the strike action comes after long and prolonged neglect by the government in addressing critical issues affecting clinical officers.
Gibore said failure by the government to address the issues raised continues to hinder delivery of quality healthcare services and undermine the achievement of Universal Health Coverage.
The union wants the Ministry of Health and CoG to finalise the Collective Bargaining Agreement which was initiated in 2017 but has since stalled despite various court orders
He noted that the issues raised could have been resolved within the seven days strike notice period adding that the negotiations for a Collective bargaining agreement have been going on since 2017 without any meaningful progress.
Gibore noted that while the ministry has indicated budget readiness on the issue of UHC staff, the Council of Governors has refused to give concurrence, hence, stalled progress.
They are further protesting there is no career progression amongst their members and saying some of the clinicians had gone for a long time long without promotions and redesignation.
"As a matter of fact, some have not seen promotion or even redesignation since devolution began," he said.
"The government’s failure to engage left us with no choice but to proceed with this strike. Despite the notice, the government went mute and, hence, it is now obvious that from midnight, service at 4,172 level 2, 1,217 level 3, 3,376 level 4 and 14 level 5 facilities will be disrupted as all clinical services come to halt," Gibore warned.
The clinicians also want the ministry to immediately implement the payment of an enhanced risk allowance of Sh15,000 pursuant to a Return to work agreement signed on January 1, 2021.
They are also demanding that the ministry pays clinical officers interns (Diploma and Degree) as per the approved internship staff establishment by the SRC.
This comes even as the doctors’ strike entered into its third week after the last conciliation meeting failed to bear fruit.
During the meeting held on Thursday, the doctors union stood firm that they will not call off the strike until all their demands are met.
As a result, the meeting ended in disarray with the government side abandoning the talks.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union has further warned that it will be "relaunching" its strike on Tuesday next to keep up the momentum.
"Next Tuesday, we shall relaunch our strike. The right to strike is necessary to support collective bargaining. Without the right to strike, collective bargaining is no more than collective begging," KMPDU Secretary-General Davji Atellah said.
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha on Saturday said the doctors' agreement was signed in 2017 when she was not in government.
"If there is a problem, there is a problem, the agreement was signed in 2017 … there is a problem and I solve it," she said.