Medical services at St Elizabeth Hospital Mukumu in Shinyalu, Kakamega County have been paralysed following a health workers’ protest over pay.
The demonstration affected transport along the Kisumu-Kakamega highway as doctors and nurses barricaded the roads demanding their five months’ salary and protesting poor working conditions.
“We have people who have not been paid for over eight months, others for five months; people who have families…right now is January they have school fees,” Dr. Brian Shiluli said.
According to the health workers, the hospital management has failed to address their issues and has now resolved not to go back to work until their plight is heard.
“We have been intimidated, we have not been considered as staff and when it comes to working, you find that the equipment you are working with as interns, they are not at par,” Justus Simiyu noted on Tuesday.
The workers also want an explanation as to why medical insurance companies claim no funds have been disbursed yet the same monies have continuously been deducted from their salaries.
They also want the hospital boss to be stripped off the leadership position.
“We cannot even secure any loans, our banks even questioning why we created our bank accounts and we are demanding our money back,” Daniel Ogera stated.
The Hospital’s board chairperson Fr.Vincent Mukokho in his defence said the hospital was working on the workers’ grievances as he shifted the blame to the NHIF saying the insurer had not disbursed the funds.
He asked the workers to give the hospital two weeks to meet their dues.
“We are sorry for that occurrence…it is not the hospital that has put you in that position. We are also pushing the NHIF to pay because that is where the problem is,” said Mukokho.
“We were requesting you to give us two weeks so we pressure and want to assure you that we are going to pressure the NHIF to give us money.”
