More casualties as paramedics press on with strike over pay

By Standard on Saturday Team

The strike by health workers entered its second day with reports that six people died.

Deaths of a woman and two children were reported at the Kericho District Hospital, while three other patients died at the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital.

In Nairobi, nurses met at Uhuru Park and vowed to press on with the strike until their demands are met.

"We can be pushed to go to the wards, but no one can compel us to attend to patients. Our grievances are genuine," said a Kenyatta National Hospital nurse who sought anonymity.

And operations at the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital remained paralysed. Some relatives frustrated by lack of services withdrew their patients from the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital.

"The situation in the wards is pathetic. I was a patient in Ward Five and Friday two of my ward mates died and another two early this morning as a result of neglect," a patient relocating to another hospital told The Standard On Saturday.

However, efforts to verify the claims from the hospital management failed as the administrators declined to be interviewed.

The workers instead marched through Nakuru streets and later converged at Nyayo Gardens where their leaders addressed them.

At the Kericho District Hospital, the deaths were reported in the children’s ward on Thursday evening, while a woman died in the afternoon in Ward Five.

But in swift response, the hospital administration said the three patients did not die as a result of the strike. Nursing Officer in charge Beatrice Koskei said the two children, aged five and 11, succumbed to their illness as a doctor and some nurses hired by the Walter Reed Project attempted to treat them. "The two children died as efforts by the medical staff, who were stationed in the ward tried to resuscitate them last night (Thursday night)," she added.

A check by The Standard On Saturday at the hospital showed the hospital management had stopped admitting new patients as the outpatient department, which handles more than 500 patients per day, had been closed.

At the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital, 100 nurses failed to report to work Friday.

Students drawn from various medical colleges in the region were attending to the sick.

And in Siaya, 200 patients admitted at the district hospital were stranded for the second day as hospital workers joined the strike.

— By Mongoa Mosota, George Olwenya, Karanja Njoroge and Mutinda Mwanzia