Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Henry Kibira
30 November 2011
NURSES countrywide are threatening to go on strike from December 7 if the government fails to heed their call for a pay increment and improved working conditions. If the government fails to avert the strike, it will take place two days after doctors down their tools from December 5. The nurses are demanding for a 300 per cent pay hike, and hiring of more health personnel to meet the country’s surging population and increased health needs. The strike notice has been issued by the Kenya Health Professionals Association, which is an umbrella body of 16 health workers unions.
Speaking yesterday at the nurses’ offices in Nairobi, the National Nurses Association of Kenya Chair, Luke Kodambo called on government to improve the work environment at all health levels. “We need to live a life just like any other professionals so as to continue providing services,” Kodambo said, and affirmed his association’s willingness to dialogue.
A start up nurse who holds a certificate earns Sh16,000 per month, while a diploma holder earns Sh18,000, figures that the health personnel are decrying as too low. “Looking at the current economic trends and the inflation, we appeal to the government to urgently review the pay package to be in line with the global conventions,” Kodambo said.
He however stated that the nurses are open to dialogue and negotiations that will help end the stalemate, and further affirmed that a team has been constituted to face off with government representatives. Kodambo said KHPS has held several consultative meetings with its members to chart the way forward, and was committed to achieving amicable solutions to problems bedeviling them.
The group is further calling upon the government to equip health facilities and improve supplies to enable them effect their operations. “How do they expect us to attain quality healthcare when they are not availing tools?” Kodambo posed, and further challenged the state to address the influx of counterfeit products in the market. “It is difficult to access supplies of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals,” Kodambo said, adding that facilities are hit by scarcity of diagnostic equipment, and that laboratories are not updated.
The group termed government allowances of Sh3,000 accorded them as a mockery, and called on the relevant ministries to raise the figures. While calling on the government to beef up security, Kodambo decried the neglected state of hospitals, which he said has continuously exposed workers and patients to dangers.
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