Vihiga officials seek to avert looming health workers’ strike
Vihiga Teaching and Referral Hospital.
What you need to know:
- Efforts to avert the strike are being led by the Medical Services Chief Officer Dr Arnold Mamadi and his Public Health counterpart Mary Anyiendah.
The Vihiga County government was yesterday making frantic efforts to avert a looming strike by health workers.
Doctors, clinical officers, nurses and medical laboratory officers are expected to down their tools on September 1 over delayed promotions and redesignations.
Through their unions, the medics said the push to have the promotions effected has dragged on for two years. The Health department has 1,121 employees.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (Kuco), Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) and Kenya Union of Medical Laboratory Officers (Kumlo) said Governor Wilber Ottichilo’s administration has not acted on their demands for two years.
The strike notice is jointly signed by union secretaries Ms Susan Korir (Kuco), Mr Caleb Maloba (KNUN), Mr Fred Amukhaya (Kumlo) and Dr Joseph Magomere (KMPDU).
Efforts to avert the strike are being led by the Medical Services Chief Officer Dr Arnold Mamadi and his Public Health counterpart Mary Anyiendah.
The two said they are working towards ensuring the health sector has a well-motivated staff that can deliver ‘the all-important essential health services’.
“The Department of Health appreciates the important role our healthcare workers play in keeping our people healthy and productive,” said Dr Mamadi.
“We will, therefore, do all within the department’s powers to ensure that we have a well-motivated staff. Accordingly, the Department of Health is soon planning for a meeting with all the unions representing health workers for discussions on this important issue.”
The strike notice is coming at a time when the devolved unit has recorded over 20 Covid-19 cases.
