Strike
The Council of Governors is winding up the disciplinary process against striking doctors and will thereafter start recruiting new doctors, Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has revealed.
Sang said governors have felt the pain Kenyans are experiencing in public hospitals and they are ready to put it to a stop. The Governor insisted they will soon begin advertising jobs for those doctors who are on strike even after the court declared their strike illegal.
He said the Council of Governors has taken a position and agreed that there is no doctor who is going to be paid without working. “As the Council of Governors, we have taken a position and agreed that there is no doctor who is going to be paid without work,” Sang said.
Sang said he sorted out the issues of doctors’ promotion in Nandi and agreed on how and when their arrears will be paid. “The only problem we had with Nandi doctors was promotion and payment of their arrears, we agreed with them and even we signed an agreement with them, and we finalised, this was done two weeks ago,” he revealed.
Governor Sang noted that he had done everything beyond his reach to have doctors back on the job in hospitals but virtually no progress was made.
“We have done everything that could be done by the County Government to have our doctors return to the hospital,” he said. The Governor said that some doctors had agreed to return to work but few declined completely insisting that they were in solidarity with their colleague striking doctors in Nairobi.
“Asking them why they have insisted on the strike, they said they were standing with other striking doctors in Nairobi,” Governor Sang noted.
He said he had written letters to them that they should return to work and even gave them notice, show cause why letters but they have not responded to the warning. Sang said he had employed some doctors on contract who are looking for jobs to act on temporary terms as they wait for striking doctors to return to work.
He said he has three volunteering doctors working in Nandi and they kept on asking him to employ them since they demonstrated their willingness to help the people of Nandi.
The Governor regretted that his doctors had disrespected his appeal notices, letters and decided to subject residents to suffering in government hospitals. He said the challenges experienced by the striking doctors are unique as per the counties and appealed to them to sit down with authorities in counties and agree on how they could resolve their challenges.
“If the problem is with the Government of Nandi, then let them sit down with us and agree but not introducing other challenges in other counties,” he said.
Sang however thanked other agitated medical cadres like clinical officers for agreeing with them and added they have embarked on work. Governor Sang spoke in Aldai during the celebration of a hundred of years of Technical and Vocational Colleges existence in Kenya and issuance of Bursary to Nandi students.
A spot check at Kapsabet Referral Hospital revealed that patients who visited the facility were attended to however the number of patients visiting the facility had dropped.