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Health crisis deepens as clinicians strike looms

 

University of Nairobi (UoN) Medical students demonstrate outside the Ministry of Health offices in Nairobi. They said the ongoing doctors’ strike had paralysed learning in the faculty. [Photo: George Njunge/Standard]

A crisis meeting has been scheduled Friday to address a threat by clinical officers in public health facilities to go on strike.

Even before a solution is reached between the Government and the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) on the ongoing doctors strike, clinicians have asked the Government to address their grievances over the weekend.

Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) had suspended their strike on December 14, 2016 for 45 days to give the Government time to address their issues among them harmonisation of salaries.

The deadline is on Sunday, January 22.

Speaking to The Standard, KUCO Secretary General George Gibore confirmed the Council of Governors (CoG) had already invited them to a meeting Friday.

"The Council of Governors wishes to invite you to a consultative meeting with the Chair of the Human Resource Committee (Kisii Governor Charles Ongwae) to be held Friday January 20, 2017 starting 10am," read a letter directed to Mr Gibore from CoG's Jacqueline Mogeni dated January 16.

Gibore said this time round the government has no choice but to address their issues.

"It has become apparent that some cadres in the health profession are treated as more important than others. We want equality. It is not too much to ask for harmonised salaries because we (clinicians) are the ones who do the donkey work," said Gibore.

As part of their demands contained in a Memorandum of Understanding between the union, Public Service Commission, CoG and the Ministry of Health, the clinicians want the minimum salary of a clinician in Job group J pegged at Sh103,000, up from from Sh24,000.

They also want the highest in job group S to be paid Sh431,000.

And just like KMPDU who want 1,200 doctors employed every year as part of their CBA, the over 5,000 clinicians also want the Government to employ four clinicians in each dispensary, 10 in every health centre, 20 in every sub-county hospital and 45 in every county or referral hospital.

"Clinical officers attend to an average of 100 patients per day against the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of 38 patients. This makes them the most overworked in the sector as they also attend to 75 per cent of patients visiting the hospital at any given time across all specialties," said Gibore.

Meanwhile, medicine students have joined the ongoing doctors strike, piling pressure on the Government to implement the CBA.

This comes as talks expected to resume Thursday failed to take place. According to credible sources, there was still no feedback from State House briefing on progress of the discussions.

The students who took their wrath to the city protesting the reluctance of the government to honour doctors' demands argued that they have not been taught for the last 46 days.

They also protested against a circular by the CoG that requires them to apply to county hospitals for internships instead of being posted automatically as has been the tradition.

Dekow said since the strike began they have not been studying.

"Without patients in hospitals we cannot learn. Let the Government commit itself to the CBA," said Dekow.

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