A looming strike by health professionals who are asking for improved working conditions could paralyse operations in hospitals and quarantine centres at a time when the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nurses, clinical officers, pharmaceutical technicians and other cadres of the health workforce are asking the national and county governments to enhance their safety and welfare. Their umbrella organisation, the Kenya Health Professionals Society (KHPS), is set to issue a strike notice tomorrow as a measure of last resort to have the workers’ grievances addressed.
The workers said they “want what everyone else wants,” during the worst pandemic of the century — safety.
When he recently announced measures to battle the pandemic, President Uhuru Kenyatta released Sh2.66 billion to the Ministry of Health, saying part of this money would go towards the welfare of health workers, including insurance, to deal with the negative impact of the disease.
Yesterday, representatives of the workers accused the government of taking their safety casually. Some 10 health workers have contracted the virus, with four still fighting for their lives.
While this is no normal environment for employees to bargain over their pay and working conditions, healthcare professionals say they have been pushed to the wall.
