Patients in Kilifi County are bearing the brunt of the nurses' strike that entered its third day yesterday.
The ongoing strike by the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) has disrupted services across several public health facilities, sparking concerns among residents who rely on the facilities for essential healthcare.
The strike, triggered by grievances over working conditions and unresolved issues with the county government, has left patients in public hospitals without adequate care, a lack of immunization services for children, and medicine for those suffering from terminal illnesses.
At the Kiwandani health facility in Kilifi North sub-county, mothers who had come for routine immunization schedules for life-saving jabs for their children were turned away and asked to return next week due to the absence of nurses.
''I had brought in my daughter for her six-week vaccine, but the receptionists have told me to come back next week on Monday," said Alice Katana.
Katana, who was in the company of her six-year-old son, expressed dissatisfaction, saying that she had used money for transport in vain.
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Nyadzua Lugo, a resident of Kiwandani, says her parents, who are under medication for high blood pressure, could not access the drugs at the Kiwandani dispensary after it closed down following the nurses' strike.
''My parents take their high blood medication at Kiwandani dispensary, but it's now closed, so this strike affects us all regardless," she said.
On Tuesday, nurses held a peaceful demonstration at the governor's office to push for the county to address their grievances.
KNUNM Kilifi branch secretary, Derrick Abdallah, blamed the county executive member for health Mr Peter Mwarogo, and his chief officer, David Mulewa, for oppressing nurses after they chased them away from a meeting they had called to deliberate on their grievances.
''Last week, when we went for a dialogue as they had requested, the chief officer chased us away and told us that they will not pay us our March and April salaries,'' Abdallah said.
He said that nurses will not return to work until the county government fully addresses their longstanding grievances with fairness and transparency.
''We are out here fighting for ourselves. As Kilifi county nurses, we are saying we will not go back to work even if they take us to court," said Abdallah.
Derick also faulted the county government for claiming that the county public service board had promoted 530 nurses.
''If it's true they promoted over 500 nurses, we want them to bring us the employment letters and earnings of those nurses because we don't want hearsay,'' he said.
Abdallah accused the county government of failing to implement a 2021 agreement aimed at improving pay and working conditions for nurses and midwives.
"There has been a deliberate failure by the county government of Kilifi to honor the signed agreement with the nurses. The past year alone, the nurses signed four agreements with the government of Kilifi. Unfortunately, none of these agreements has been implemented to date," said Abdallah.
Abdallah said the key issues that remain unresolved are promotion of nurses, payment of salary arrears for January and February 2021, and engagement of locum nurses on fair and better terms.
The union’s demands include full implementation of the 2021 agreement, recognition of overtime work, permanent employment for locum nurses, and timely payment of salaries.
This comes as the county government issued a warning to the striking nurses that it will take legal action against them, terming the ongoing strike as illegal.
Kilifi county government spokesperson Jonathan Mativo said the strike was unlawful, adding that the county government, through the public service board, had already promoted several healthcare workers.
Mativo urged nurses who had defied the strike to continue providing services and report any form of intimidation or harassment from colleagues participating in the strike.