Patients in Homa Bay to face tough times as doctors down their tools

Patients in Homa Bay are bracing for tough times after doctors began their strike, paralysing key services in health facilities and throwing Governor Gladys Wanga's administration into a crisis.

The doctors downed their tools officially on Tuesday over what they termed as Homa Bay County government’s refusal to address their grievances.

The members of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists’ Union (KMPDU) will not return to work until their grievances are addressed.

The medics led by the KMPDU Liaison Officer in Homa Bay County, Ochieng Otana, and Dr Ben Otieno, the medics accused the county government of failing to honour the 21-day strike notice they issued last month.

Dr Otana said they presented the grievances to the county government, but the county government gave them a deaf ear.

“We gave a notice in time, but they did not listen to us. Some officials came and talked to us, but what we discussed has not been implemented to date,” Dr Otana said.

He said the only remedy for their grievances is to launch the industrial action for the county government to learn from their actions.

“We have talked to our employer, but they don’t want to listen to us. The only issue they tried to address was promotion, which has not been addressed fully,” Otana said.

Dr Otieno accused the county government of disregarding the services doctors offer in the county.

He accused the county government of frustrating doctors. He argued that sometimes, doctors suffer salary deductions whose explanations are not given.

“You find that a doctor’s salary has been deducted, yet there is no explanation. What our employer is doing demoralises us from working,” Otieno said.

He said the frustration is working against the gains that the county government had made in the health sector. Such gains include a reduction in infant and maternal mortalities.

“We had made significant gains in infant and maternal mortality reduction, but the gains are being eroded by the frustrations doctors are undergoing because the problems are recurring in our hospitals,” Otieno said.

He decried serious understaffing affecting doctors in the county.

“Doctors are like the second God. But understaffing is so grave that it denies patients services they deserve. We should not sit down to watch what situations can predispose residents of this county to death. We are also residents of this county,” Otieno said.

The medics’ grievances include stagnation in career progression resulting from failure to promote and re-designate all doctors whose cases are pending.

They also complained of failure to remit their outstanding statutory deductions and lack of comprehensive medical cover, which had left them vulnerable.

Other grievances include accumulation of salaries and allowances, and irregular removal of their members from the payroll.

Homa Bay County Chief Officer for Health,  Kevin Osuri, said they were putting modalities in place to negotiate with the doctors to call off the strike.

“We are aware of the strike, and we are going to talk to them about how to return to work,” Dr Osuri said.