Pain, agony as doctors, nurses boycott work demanding pay
A patient at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital on April 21, 2023.
Services at public hospitals in Vihiga and Kisumu counties remained paralysed for the third consecutive day yesterday as workers stayed away demanding pay.
Most hospitals were deserted, with patients being turned away by guards.
Locals took their sick relatives from the wards.
Through their unions, the doctors have vowed not to return to work until their February and March salaries are settled.
At Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, families with sick relatives took them away with those unable to raise private hospital fee remaining behind hoping for matters to improve.
There was no one in the vicinity at Sabatia Sub-County Hospital in Vihiga County, while only medical students were at the County Referral Hospital in Mbale.
The trainees could not attend to patients.
Mr Nicholas Otieno moved his mother to another hospital.
“My mother has cancer but has not been attended to for four days,” Mr Otieno said.
“There were no doctors at the beginning but nurses and other health workers have joined the boycott too. Patients are not being cared for.”
Patients at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kisumu, idle in the compound hoping the strike by health workers will be called off.
He added that his elderly mother’s health has deteriorated and that she cannot eat.
“I don’t know why the health workers have gone on strike. Innocent patients are being made to suffer,” Mr Otieno said.
He added that when he left his home in Siaya County on Monday, he had hoped his mother would receive medical attention as was the case in the past.
Mr Otieno said the family does not have enough money to move his mother to a private hospital.
“She has not been seen by any doctor or nurse since Monday and her health keeps falling. We appeal to the government and health workers to have mercy on patients and their families. Let them talk to end the dispute,” Mr Otieno said, adding that he has seen countless patients leave the hospital with relatives.
The beds at the hospital were empty yesterday, with a guard telling the Saturday Nation team that the gates would be locked as there were no patients or health workers around.
“People are dying because they are not being seen by doctors and nurses. This morning, a patient sharing a ward with us died. He had not been attended to since yesterday morning,” one of the patients told the Saturday Nation.
Ms Rose Omondi, a resident of Rabuor, who visited Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu for her blood pressure check and drugs, also left as there was no doctor around.
Ms Omondi said she was advised by the medical students to visit a pharmacy for her medicine.
Also affected was Ms Dorothy Barasa, who had been lined up for Caesarean Section but had not seen a medical worker since Thursday morning.
Ms Barasa said doctors had advised that she visits the hospital regularly before her due date this month.
She expressed fears that she may not see an expert if the strike persists.
“I came on Thursday but was asked to return today. When I visited the clinic, I was asked to come back on Monday,” Ms Barasa said.
“All I want is to be informed how my baby is doing and what to expect. I don’t know my fate. Going to a private hospital is very costly. We can only appeal to the government to intervene and pay the health workers. It is patients that are suffering.”
Yesterday, the Kisumu devolved government called for patience and asked health workers to resume duty “as your grievances are being addressed”.
The strike has also come at a time the county government is recording many cholera cases, with two deaths and 11 hospital admissions.
Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Vihiga Branch Treasurer, Joseph Magomere, said members heeded the call to boycott work until they are paid.
He added that the medical employees would not resume duty until they are assured of regular payment.
“It is a work boycott since no one listened to the cries of the KMPDU members,” Dr Magomere said.
He added that salary delays have become a norm and that it affects operations at hospitals and staff morale. Hospitals in Nyamira were working.
“We are in talks with the government but doctors who commute from far cannot get to work for lack of fare. We have excused them,” KMPDU Nyamira Branch Chairman, Wycliffe Tweya, said.
Health Executive, Timothy Ombati, said the county received money for January and that the health workers would be paid from Monday.
“We could not credit the money to individual staff accounts because today is a holiday,” Dr Ombati said yesterday.
Reported by Angeline Ochieng, Derick Luvega and Ruth Mbula
