Leaders of various medical professional associations have kicked off mediation talks with the COG chair Dr. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya to address the ongoing health workers strike. The medical professional associations representatives present including Alfred Obengo (President National Nurses Council of Kenya), Albert Taiti (Chairman of Kenya Clinical Officers Association) and Dr Were Onyino (President of Kenya Medical Association) among others affirmed their commitment to ending the strike by saying they will engage the Unions leaders.
“We will engage the Unions to address the matters they have raised with a possibility of ending the strike by Friday this week,” said Mr Obengo. Dr Onyino said they are concerned with the strike because it has caused a health crisis in the Country. The delegation met the governor in his capacity as the Council of Governors chairman to broker truce and end the strike that entered the 49th day today.
Governor welcomed their decision to intervene and reach an agreement between county governments and the striking health workers.
“As Kakamega County we have met all the 17 demands made by the Unions but they have failed to call off the strike. We also have a Court order which the Unions have ignored and failed to report back to work,” said Dr. Oparanya.
Dr. Oparanya noted that as governors they are willing and ready to engage the Unions to end the strike. “Let the Unions engage individual counties directly. I hope as leaders of the medical professional associations, you will engage the Union leaders with the aim of having the strike called off,” he said.
He however advised Union officials to desist from insulting governors and other leaders adding that such behavior frustrated efforts to resolve the stalemate.
Meanwhile, the Kakamega county referral hospital medical superintendent Dr. Victor Zimbulu has outlined the difficulties the health facilities are going through since the onset of the strike revealing that most services remain paralyzed due to lack of manpower.
According to him, employing new nurses leaves the situation the same as the new staff are not specialized. Out of the 450 nurses that keep the Kakamega referral hospital operational on a day to day basis, about 40 nurses employed on contract terms are on duty. This according to the medical superintendent, has left them to run general services at the hospital given that the nurses are not specialists in any department.