Oparanya lectures Nakhumicha for spending more time in funerals than her office

Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya has asked Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha to take the running of the health docket seriously as it involves the life of Kenyans.

Speaking in Lugari during the homecoming ceremony of the area MP, Nabii Nabwera the former Kakamega governor regretted that the CS was spending most of her office time in funerals and political functions politicising the ongoing doctor's strike rather than dealing with it with the urgency and decorum he deserved.

"I am surprised you have been here (Lugari) sitting the whole day waiting to speak in this fest and been wondering what time you have for the duty. I have been a governor and minister and know how the government runs. You should be in office sorting the complex health issues," Oparanya told Nakhumicha who minutes earlier had termed the strike as a passing sensation.

"You keep belittling doctors thinking they are nurses. The thing with doctors is that they have side hustles to sustain them while the strike goes on. They may carry on for as many months as they can as our people suffer." Added the former governor

Last week the CS was in Transnzoia county at a funeral which turned chaotic but she found time on the microphone to blame cartels for the unrest in the department.

Oparanya, a former Planning minister cautioned the minister to tread carefully with the doctors as "you are dealing with bright people who scored straight As and A-(minuses) perhaps better marks than yourself in high school."

Nakhumicha, a diploma holder, had earlier described her helm at the health ministry as more phenomenal than that of any of her predecessors.

According to her, she had rid the sector of cartels who crippled services and what was remaining was for Kenyans to sit down and wait for improved services.

"Ask around and you will be told, in my short span in office I have initiated the highest number of laws aimed at streamlining the sector," she said.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula however, said the CS was doing a good job and "should keep up."

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacist and Dentists Union (KMPDU), has accused the government of threatening to sack them rather than solving their pay trouble.