Nurses at Kenyatta National Hospital yesterday gave the government a 48 hours ultimatum to resolve the nurses strike failure to which they will join the industrial action.
The nurses have promised to down their tools in show of solidarity citing nurses are an integral part in the delivery of good health. The strike now on its 58th day seeks implementation of the collective bargaining agreement.
The nurses represented by the National Nurses Association of Kenya and Kenya Progressive Nurses Association have said they will paralyse operations at KNH beginning Wednesday lest the CBA is registered in court.
Kenyatta National Hospital nurses mainly are employed by the national government. Speaking in Nairobi, National Nurses Association of Kenya national chair Alfred Obuya said nursing services was the backbone of health functioning in hospitals.
“Health personnel are necessary in managing health situation in hospitals and with no nurses then this are not achievable and that is the current situation in our hospitals,” Obuya said.
The nurses are calling upon the president to solve the situation citing it had a ripple effect on the upcoming general elections.
“It will be a miscalculation to go to the elections with virtually all public hospitals closed. The repercussions cannot be underscored,” Obuya said.
However, Ministry of Health, Council of Governors yesterday said the hard stance the union had taken had paralysed the mediation process. Speaking in Nairobi, Health PS Julius Korir said they were ready to talk with the nurses’ union to end the two months strike. They have asked the unions to come and allow discussions so that a solution could be reached citing they had not pulled out of previous negotiation.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) will this week head a mediation process between the Governors and the Nurses union. KMPDU chair Samuel Oroko said they will be getting in touch with both the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and the Council of Governors (CoG) this week in a bid to bring the two sides together.
Doctors’ union officials last week volunteered to play the role of arbitrators in the ongoing nurses’ strike that has paralyzed operations in public hospitals.