As Covid-19 continues to sweep around the world, it is expected that countries take care of the health workers for they are the only soldiers capable of fighting the pandemic.
But not for Kenya. In Kenya, health workers are not that important during such a time of the pandemic. Not when the country needs the Building Bridges Initial (BBI) than anything else.
Four Counties have now fired a total of 1,900 striking health workers. The first county to let go 400 nurses was Kisumu, headed by Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o.
Mombasa, Kilifi, and Taita Taveta have fired 500 health workers each. In Mombasa, videos emerged of doctors being thrown out of the servant quarters with personal belongings scattered all over.
Nurses have been on strike for close to a month now as they call for better working conditions, against the delay of their salaries by county governments, being given health insurance among other demands.
Doctors, on the other hand, had agreed to go back to work after signing a return-to-work formula with the Ministry of Health. However, the Council of Governors rejected the formula saying there was no money to pay them.
For more than a month now, patients across the country who depend on public hospitals for treatment have been suffering in silence with some just waiting for death.
Ironically, politicians who claim they have the interests of the people at heart have remained mute about the issue. They are busy beating the drums of BBI and the elections of 2022.
It is obvious that those in government don’t care about poor Kenyans who are only valuable during voting time. When it comes to service delivery, it is everyone for himself.
Health is a devolved function and it appears it is an uphill task for Governors who are also struggling with huge wage bills.
Meanwhile, don’t get sick now. If you don’t have money for a private hospital, you will just die.
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