Hospital workers stage demo after police rough up nurse over curfew
Health workers hold demonstrations at Keroka Level Four Hospital in Nyamira County on June 28, 2021. The medics say police assaulted and injured a colleague who was arrested past curfew hours.
Operations at Keroka Sub-County Hospital in Nyamira were paralysed Monday after health workers staged a go-slow to protest police harassment during curfew hours.
The demo came after a nurse was allegedly roughed up by officers who were enforcing the curfew in Keroka town on Sunday at 7:30pm.
Led by union officials, health workers at the facility took to the streets to condemn the act.
“It is unfair for essential workers like doctors to be mishandled when they are in the line of duty. The victim was harassed at the gate when he was leaving for home,” said Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) branch secretary Bernard Kerosi.
The victim, Mr Samson Mariba, sustained head and leg injuries during the incident and is currently recuperating at the facility.
Nurses in the region have raised concern over mistreatment of health workers by police officers as they enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
They say they are being restricted from effectively performing their duties during the curfew period despite presenting proper identification to the police.
The union is now demanding that the police respect health workers.
“The curfew was not meant to restrict doctors from performing their duties. Police must respect health workers. Our colleague was attacked with rungus (clubs),” said one of the nurses.
Last month, local police officers also came under fire following the death of a four-month-old baby whose family said it could have been avoided had they not been blocked at a curfew roadblock in Keroka town.
The child’s family had hired a taxi to take the baby and her mother, a 16-year-old, to the hospital but they were stopped at the police roadblock some minutes after 10pm by officers who questioned why the taxi was operating past curfew hours.
The child later died. A month later, suspects are yet to be brought to book.
Hotspot zones
A fortnight ago, the ministry of health revised curfew hours for 13 counties in the Western region from 10pm to start at 7pm.
The counties are; Busia, Vihiga, Kisii, Nyamira, Kakamega, Kericho and Bomet. Others are Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori. The counties were collectively declared Covid-19 hotspot zones.
"That the curfew within the hotspot zone shall be observed between 7pm and 4am daily," Health Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement.
In a revised notice, CS Kagwe said the curfew exempts essential and emergency service providers in the hotspot zones.
Area Sub-County Police Commander Robert Ndambiri said investigations are ongoing to establish what happened when the nurse was allegedly clobbered.
"We are yet to identify the suspects but we are following crucial details to ensure justice is administered" said the police boss.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i has previously directed police officers to be less aggressive when enforcing Covid-19 restrictions after outcry from Kenyans over excessive use of force.
"We are going to persuade people to be compliant. We already have a challenge (pandemic), we do not want to worsen it by looking like we are aggressive or harassing wananchi," said Dr Matiang'i.
