Clinical officers list demands to be met to avert strike

George Gibore

Kenya Union of Clinical Officers Secretary General George Gibore during a media briefing.

Photo credit: Pool I Nation Media Group

Kenya Union of Clinical Officers has raised issues which they want addressed with immediate effect or else they will ask their members to go on strike.

In a statement signed by George Gibore- the union’s Secretary General and Mr Peterson Wachira-the National Chairman, the union said that interns were being discriminated against when it comes to internship pay and posting compared to other professionals in the medical field.

“The Ministry of Health is mandated to ensure that these officers are facilitated by posting internship and paying their salary/stipend. These interns were supposed to be posted in December 2022 but this has not happened to date,” the statement read in part.

They said they have noticed that some interns were being posted and no communication was being made on when the rest will be posted.

The union also said that the clinical officers were experiencing delays in conclusion of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“Failure to conclude and sign the CBA has contributed to numerous gaps and leaves many various concerns unattended hence exposing our members to occupational health hazards and mental health challenges,” the statement read.

The clinical officers said that a month ago, they wrote to the Ministry of Health and Council of Governors asking for the resumption of CBA negotiations but they have never received any response on when this is to take place.

Clinical officers said that they have been shocked by a recent move made by the Salary and Remuneration Commission (SRC) excluding the benefits payable to them in the public sector as clearly stated in the compendium of remuneration and benefits of public officers.

They termed the omission of some allowances payable to clinical officers in the Public Sector as deliberate and intended to humiliate them.

It has also emerged that SRC has already written to employers with the intention to review the salary of various health workers by reducing their salaries.

“We are also aware that the same information has been communicated to financial institutions, denying our members some financial benefits,” they said.

Three weeks ago, the clinicians demanded that President William Ruto constitutes a National Joint Taskforce on Health to look into issues that affect the sector.

They want the taskforce to undertake an evaluation of the last decade since the devolution of health with a view to recommending solutions that will put health back on the path to  attaining Vision 2030.

The union in their latest call has recommended that the taskforce will provide a framework for the establishment of a Health Commission for the management of human resources for health without undermining devolution.

“The taskforce will also provide a framework for ring-fencing funds for healthcare from facility improvement to allocations from the treasury in collaboration with county governments,” KUCO SG George Gibore said.