Anguish as nurses' strike paralyses all operations

A patient suffering from chronic tuberculosis in Hola, Tana River, died at the start of the nurses' strike, which paralysed operations in key public hospitals throughout the country on Monday.

The fight against cholera in parts of the country also took a hit as nurses insisted that they would only go back to work when a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is signed.

Roba Salat died at the Hola hospital after nurses deserted the wards.

Services in all sections of the hospital were suspended as relatives took away patients who had no one to look after them.

The situation was also dire in Kirinyaga County, where the administration of the county referral hospital had to transfer 35 premature babies to a private facility.

Also transferred by relatives were critically ill patients who could not remain in public hospitals without care.

The director of medical services, Hesbon Gakuo, said all the county's 523 nurses had gone on strike.

"We had to transfer the babies in their incubators because the Mwea Mission Hospital has a shortage of the equipment,’’ he said.

In Nakuru, there were fears that the strike would adversely affect efforts to deal with a cholera outbreak that had been reported in Naivasha.

One patient suffering from cholera had been admitted in an isolation ward at the Naivasha sub-county hospital.

There were reports that private hospitals could not handle cholera patients.

The county outbreak response team was mobilised and more drugs dispatched to Naivasha.

The hospital's superintendent, Joseph Mburu, said the patient was in a stable condition and undergoing treatment.

“Some of the government nurses have gone on strike, leaving those on contract. This could adversely affect efforts to contain the outbreak. Public health officers have disinfected the house of the patient in a county council estate and are in the process of treating water sources in the area,” he said.

Patients at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) were advised to seek treatment in private facilities as the hospital's more than 800 nurses downed their tools.

There was minimal activity at the intensive care unit, theatre, and emergency units as nurses kept away.

The chairman of the local branch of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), Kennedy Orangi, said the union had been waiting for the management to liaise with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to approve their CBA since January but in vain.

“We have been expecting the management to secure a letter of no objection from SRC so that our CBA can be registered in court but the wait has taken too long (and) that is why we resorted to industrial action,” he said.

MTRH Chief Executive Officer Wilson Aruasa said the administration was negotiating and would give out comprehensive information once the talks are concluded.

Services at the Coast Provincial General Hospital in Mombasa were affected as 700 nurses joined their colleagues in other counties to protest at the delay in signing the pay deal.

Nurses said patients were gradually being discharged and that in two days services in the facility that serves the six counties in the coast region would grind to a halt.

A spot check at the facility revealed that some nurses were still offering services but some patients said they had been discharged.

“I was told that I should go home because the facility was experiencing a shortage of nurses,” said Ken Kahindi.

At the same time all the county's 1,200 nurses under KNUN vowed to boycott work until the SRC signs the CBA .

The union's branch secretary-general, Syprene Odera, said: “Negotiation of the CBA was conducted on March 7, and we expected it to have been signed by the SRC by June 2, but it seems to be reluctant. We shall not report to work till a solution is found.”

A spot check in various public facilities showed that patients were being turned away.

At the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, which serves patients from Nakuru and neighbouring counties, patients were not being admitted.

Those who had been admitted were being discharged.

Irene Kemboi could not hold back her tears as she watched her three-month-old baby writhe in pain.

Ms Kemboi said she left Mau Narok at 5am to take her baby to Njoro hospital, where she was referred to the Nakuru County referral hospital, but could not receive any services.

She said the baby was suffering from pneumonia and that she feared for his life because she did not have money to seek services in a private hospital.

“I wish there was a nurse or a doctor to check him,” she said.

Financial constrains

Another patient, Caleb Simiyu, from London estate in Nakuru town, was also turned away although he had fractured his leg in a road accident at Ngata Bridge last week.

Simiyu said he was not able to seek services in a private hospital because of financial constrains.

“I reported at the hospital at around 7am for cleaning and dressing of my wound but there is nobody to provide the service,” he said.

Kevin Mwangi and Meshack Morio, who had been involved in an accident and were bleeding, were abandoned at the casualty department.

The duo only received first aid from clinical officers and were kept waiting for the better part of the day before they left to purchase drugs at a private chemist.

“We have been here for almost four hours but nobody has come to our rescue apart from first aid service provided to us by a clinical officer,” said Morio.

In Kisumu, The fate of thousands of patients remains unknown as operations in public hospitals came to halt, with the administrators struggling to fill the void left by the striking nurses.

A spot check by The Standard at the two main hospitals in the region - Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) and Kisumu County Hospital - established that several patients had to go back home after they failed to receive treatment.

So dire was the situation that the hospitals prematurely discharged some patients and turned away others for lack of personnel.

At the Kisumu County hospital, several patients were discharged, with the hospital’s chief executive officer, Amos Otedo, saying that there were only two nurses to take care of patients who were in a critical condition.

He noted that operations at the hospital had been adversely affected, prompting patients to seek treatment in private facilities.

The JOOTRH acting chief executive officer, Peter Okoth, said: “We cannot fill the void left by the striking nurses but we are trying to re-organise ourselves and the staff to ensure that we handle the emergencies,” said Okoth.