Nurses receive July pay, resume work

Mombasa, Kenya: Striking health workers have started receiving their July salary and are expected to be back to work starting Friday.

Executive Officer for Health Tendai Mtana on Thursday said the county government had wired Sh16 million to the accounts of the striking health workers.

Dr Mtana said the workers had not been paid because the national Treasury had not given the county its share of the 2014/2015 financial budget.

He noted that the money to pay the workers was made available after the Treasury had finally completed channelling the money to the county account.

"This is a relief to us all. We are hoping that our medical personnel will have no reason to stay away from work," he said, adding that disciplinary action would be taken against those who will fail to report to work.

The Standard established that at the Coast General Hospital many departments had reopened and medical staff resumed work by Thursday evening.

Stanley Mwailogo, the patron of the nurses at the hospital, noted that many workers had resumed work despite most of them having not received the money. "We have not received money in our accounts," he said.