Retired Anglican Bishop, Rev. Joseph Otieno Wasonga, has called on the Siaya County Government to dialogue with healthcare workers and solve the grievances that has forced them withdraw their labour hence exposing the residents to suffering.
According to Bishop Wasonga, the ordinary citizen cannot access quality healthcare as a result of the industrial action, that has seen public hospitals remain grounded.
Speaking at a one-day medical camp organized by the Bishop Wasonga Foundation, Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK) and the Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) at Siriwo in Central Gem Location, the Bishop called on both parties to dialogue for the interest of the poor citizens.
“The dispute could be resolved if both sides negotiated in good faith,” he said adding: “The County government should listen to healthcare workers, sit with them and find ways of agreeing on a return-to-work formula so that the people may not continue to suffer in sickness,” he maintained.
He called on both levels of government to prioritise the welfare of health workers, lamenting that it was not in order to persistently keep on ignoring the workers’ cries.
Gem Sub-County Public Health Nurse, Triza Anyango, said the nurses’ strike had disrupted services in most government health facilities in the area, adding that pregnant women, newborns and children were among those most affected by the disruption.
She said immunization services have been severely affected as a result of the industrial action.
A Medical Officer at Africa Inuka Hospital, Dr Brian Sagero, who was among the medics attending the patients during the camp, said nearly 1,000 residents had been screened during the camp.
Dr Sagero urged residents to go for regular medical check-ups, warning that some diseases remain undetected until they became life-threatening.
By Philip Onyango
