Nurses in Homa Bay demonstrate as they continue with their strike in public health facilities in Homa Bay/ROBERT OMOLLO
Nurses in Homa Bay on Tuesday took to the streets to demand the implementation of their 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) by governors.
They demonstrated as patients continued to bear the brunt of their strike in public health facilities.
Health facilities across the county are not offering services, with most remaining shut due to the nurses’ strike.
At Homa Bay Referral Hospital, the largest health facility in the county, the majority of wards, including the maternity ward, remained shut.
Medical officials on the streets as they demonstrate over unfulfilled promises by employers in Homa Bay town/ROBERT OMOLLO
Only Ward Three and Ward Four were operating at the hospital. The wards are run by a non-governmental organisation, assisted by a few workers employed by the hospital.
However, the remaining public health facilities, which rely on services provided by health workers employed by the county government, are not operating.
The situation has put the lives of patients at risk because they cannot access medication and other services in public health facilities. The medics have also vowed not to return to work until their grievances are addressed.
Demonstrations as nurses continue with a strike in Homa Bay town/ROBERT OMOLLO
The nurses chanted songs criticising the Council of Governors (CoG) for declining to address their grievances.
Okeyo said they would not return to work unless their grievances were addressed.
Among their grievances, the nurses want their CBA signed so that it is legally binding. The CBA provides nurses with career progression guidelines and allowances, among other benefits.
"Our colleagues who were recruited under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme should be given permanent and pensionable contracts. The UHC nurses were employed on temporary terms during the tenure of former President Uhuru Kenyatta," Okeyo said.
Speaking to journalists in Homa Bay town, the secretary said they want the 2017 return-to-work agreement their union signed with the CoG implemented.
“Unless you sign the CBA and we get a letter of no objection from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), we will not return to work. This applies to the failure to implement the return-to-work agreement and other grievances,” he said.
He also accused the Homa Bay County Government of failing to honour its April return-to-work agreement.
He said the county government was not promising to implement what they had agreed on.
“Immediately this strike is over, we will serve the Homa Bay County Government with a notice for another strike over the return-to-work agreement it has disobeyed since April,” he added.
The union chairman in Homa Bay, Enock Ocharo, told the CoG to stop threatening nurses.
Ocharo said the threats would not make them end the strike.
“Let the CoG focus on addressing our grievances. The threats they are issuing will not have any impact,” Ocharo said.
Javan Adam warned that failure to motivate nurses would cause patients to continue suffering.
“Let them know that a demotivated nurse is more dangerous than cancer stage four. They should address our grievances to enable health services to enable citizens to get medical care,” Adam said.
