Taita Taveta County Sends Home Health Workers
Health workers stage a peaceful protest.
Twitter
Taita Taveta County on Wednesday, February 3, sent home over 400 workers in what the county official termed as illegal involvement in work boycott.
County Secretary Leverson Mghendi stated that the heath workers had failed to report to work without any valid reason.
He noted that some of the nurses and clinical officers were claiming that they had a right to take part in the national wide strike, yet the strike had been called off.
Citing the Employment and Labour Court ruling of December 16, 2020, Mghendi argued that the heath workers had been ordered to go back to work, but the employees did not heed.
23-Year-Old Nurse Commits Suicide
Silhouette figure of a man contemplating suicide.
Gulf Today
A nurse based in Homa Bay reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his house on Sunday, January 31.
The Standard reported that Evans Odhiambo who worked at the Ngodhe Island dispensary had not shown any signs that something was amiss.
The deceased had been employed to work under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme in May 2020 and was working under the county government.
Health workers during a strike in Kenya.
Twitter
Homa Bay County Health Executive Richard Muga said the nurse was dedicated to his work, and had not even joined his colleagues in the ongoing health worker s strike.
Muslim Council calls on governors to heal health crisis
HEALTH & SCIENCE
Doctors , nurses and clinical officers protest a long Digo road in Mombasa on December 22, 2020. [Omondi Onyango,Standard]
The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) has called on the Council of Governors (COG) health committee to prioritize on fixing the health sector stalemate which has left clinical officers out for work for more than 40 days.
Clinical workers who went on strike on December 7 have blamed the COG for failing to sign their return to work a formula which was agreed upon by the Ministry of health (MOH), COG and other stakeholders on January 1.
Kenya Union of Clinical Officers Chairman Peterson Wachira addresses the Press after medics downed tools yesterday. [File, Jonah Onyango, Standard]
Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) General Secretary George Gibore has told his colleagues that the strike is still ongoing and that they should not be cowed by threats of disciplinary action from the Council of Governors (COG).
Since the start of the year, COG has remained adamant about signing a return-to-work formula that would be the final elixir to the health crisis and send clinical officers back to work.
On Wednesday, COG chair Wycliffe Oparanya ordered the nurses to go back to work, saying that their strike was declared illegal in court. Oparanya has also defended the Council s stand on not signing the return-to-work formula on their absence in the agreement process between the Union and Health Ministry.