By STANDARD TEAM

Confusion reigned in public hospitals after doctors demanding better pay failed to report to work.

Most hospitals admitted critical cases leaving those suffering from ailments considered minor stranded.

The doctors made good their threat to kick-start the strike Thursday to pressure the Government to implement a pay deal reached last year. Nurses and other health professionals are now manning all health facilities.

The move by doctors increases the headache for the Government, which is trying to contain similar strikes by teachers and university lecturers.

At Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), health services were downgraded further as the absence of doctors and medical Registrars continues to bite hard.

Service to patients was visibly slower than usual, including at the emergency and casualty areas where nurses could be seen working with no doctors in sight.

Alex Kimeu, who had brought his cousin to KNH suffering from physical wounds sustained from an attack by thugs, lamented that since Wednesday night he was still waiting for treatment.

“They have just told us to wait. My brother was still bleeding heavily but they said they wouldn’t do much for him since they were attending to highly critical cases,” he said.

Thursday, the hospital’s CEO Richard Leserian confirmed that they are only focusing on critical and emergency services to save lives as they struggle to weather the crisis unleashed by the strike.

“We are lucky because not many patients are coming for treatment as usual. They probably just decided to remain at home or go to private hospitals when they heard about the strike,” he said.

see deaths

He insisted that his hospital does not recognise the strike since it doesn’t have any agreement with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, which called for the action.

In Mbagathi District Hospital, patients were being attended to by nurses, who often receive guidance from doctors.

“Services are not optimum. We hope that the strike will be resolved quickly before we begin to see deaths. It is difficult for nurses to work without the direction of doctors,” said a nurse who didn’t want to be named.

Thursday the striking doctors met at KNH grounds where they staged demonstrations against the Government for “ignoring their offers for negotiations to resolve the matter”.

The doctors are organising themselves mainly through Facebook and Twitter accounts where they share information and ideas on how to make their strike a success.

“KMPPDU has barked. If we don’t bite hard, they will know that we are toothless. Next time we bark, they will chase us away with contempt for ‘making noise’. This is the moment, this is the time to consolidate our collective might,” said a doctor on the KMPPDU Facebook page.

But Medical Services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o continued to dig in Thursday, saying the Government does not recognise the strike and blamed doctors for abandoning their work on “flimsy grounds”.

As doctors went on a nationwide strike Thursday, Hassan Bakari, who is nursing a patient at the Coast Provincial General Hospital in Mombasa, was a worried man.

He had made the journey across the Likoni ferry to Coast Provincial General Hospital to seek medical treatment for his ailing mother.

Bakari was among scores of patients who arrived at the hospital early morning but had not been attended to.

Medical services at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) were also paralysed when doctors failed to report to their workstations.

“It is quite unfortunate for this government to ignore doctors until we resort to this strike,” said Dr Richard Mogeni, the North Rift KMPPDU branch secretary.

Services at Kakamega Provincial General Hospital (PGH) were also halted as the doctors’ strike commenced.

Patients who thronged Kakamega PGH complained that they were neglected.