Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) is on the verge of rolling out a new salary structure for its staff following its elevation to a national referral facility,
The facility’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Joshua Okise, said the transition process was 95 per cent complete and includes the development of comprehensive human resource instruments that did not previously exist under the county administration.
“Initially, this facility did not have a particular document we could refer to as far as salary structure is concerned, and even the HR instruments,” Dr Okise said.
He said the hospital has developed career guidelines, a human resource policy manual, staff establishment frameworks and conducted job description analysis for all cadres.
The next step, he said, was to carry out job evaluation, after which the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) will issue a salary advice structure to guide placement of employees onto a parastatal payroll.
A human resource advisory committee, guided by the Public Service Commission (PSC), he said, was overseeing the conversion of staff from the county’s 17-tier grading system to a 14-tier structure aligned to national government standards.
“We are pushing so that we have that document approved from the SRC so that our staff can start benefiting,” Dr Okise said, expressing optimism that the salary structure could be finalised within a week.
The hospital was gazetted as a national teaching and referral facility last year, effectively transferring its management from Kisumu County Government to the national government.
Speaking at the facility on Tuesday during the signing of a Recognition Agreement with the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, Dr Okise said since its elevation, the hospital has expanded specialised services and embarked on recruitment of additional specialists.
He said the facility has hired two neurosurgeons, increased orthopaedic surgeons from one to four, and recently engaged a critical care clinical officer for the Accident and Emergency unit.
Recruitment of urologists and ENT surgeons, he said, was ongoing adding that a recent complex facial reconstruction surgery performed at the hospital was evidence of its growing capacity.
The recognition agreement grants the union legal standing to negotiate on behalf of clinical officers as the institution completes its transition from county control to a national referral facility.
KUCO Chairperson, Peterson Wachira, described the signing as a critical first step in ensuring clinical officers’ welfare is central to the hospital’s growth.
“This is more than a formality. It gives us legal standing to engage management on staff welfare, collective bargaining and service delivery. When staff welfare is prioritised, patients receive better care. It is a foundation for continuous dialogue that will benefit both workers and Kenyans, now that this facility serves not just Kisumu but the entire country, and even attracts patients from across East Africa,” he said.
General Secretary, George Gibore, said the agreement comes at a time when Kenya’s health sector is undergoing reforms that he said risk leaving referral hospitals under-resourced.
He called on government to focus on human resource investment alongside infrastructure expansion.
“We cannot have state-of-the-art theatres without staff to run them. Referral facilities must not be starved in the name of primary healthcare reforms,” Gibore said.
“We are seeing facilities with only a fraction of the required clinical officers. At JOOTRH, for instance, one critical care officer is managing a whole unit. If that person is unavailable, the service is effectively closed. This is not sustainable,” he added.
Gibore also pushed for health worker salaries to be treated as an investment rather than a line item under recurrent expenditure, arguing that this would allow counties and referral hospitals to employ enough professionals to meet demand.
“We must invest properly and employ healthcare workers. It is they who deliver the services and determine outcomes for patients. The wage bill cannot continue to limit hiring. If we fail to support staff, we fail patients,” he said.
The signing of the recognition agreement comes as the hospital seeks to consolidate its new status as a national referral centre serving western Kenya and parts of the East African region, with management and union leaders expressing optimism that structured dialogue will stabilise labour relations during the transition.
By Chris Mahandara
