Over 50 contracted and volunteer nurses at the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet town are on strike to push for better terms of services, claiming the current arrangement was exploitative.
The medics who withdrew their services at the Level Five Hospital for the whole day camped outside Governor Benjamin Cheboi’s office, vowing not to relent until their grievances were heard.
Efforts by the hospital administrator, Michael Rotich, alias Cheronge to address them turned futile as the medics only wanted to seek audience with the governor, who was away.
Speaking to journalists at the entrance of the office, they claimed that the county administration, after forwarding to them a written memo that entails all their concerns, did not honor it.
Collins Kiyai, who led the nurses, blamed both the County Public Service Board and the devolution department over shoddy employment formulas, which they said affected the recently advertised positions.
Kiyai stated that the 42 who are in contract and ten others who have volunteered for more than a year have now missed their payments for the last three months and the subsequent years they were given a small token which cannot meet their daily needs.
“Some of the medic’s houses have been locked due to failure to pay rent, but the most unfortunate incident which happened recently involved one of us who collapsed due to hunger,” he said.
To make matters worse, he claimed, the County Administration was overlooking their experience by employing fresh graduates on permanent terms to work at the Referral Hospital.
Mercy Kimeli said they are now demanding the list of all those who were shortlisted and the new employees in order to check on the anomalies after they were subjected to an interview, but nobody among the group was absorbed.
She said that they are not returning to work until all their demands are addressed since the County Referral Hospital heavily relies on contracted staff, especially in the maternity wing and other key departments.
Sheila Chelagat said she has been working under deplorable working conditions on contract since 2014, yet cannot afford even to raise school fees for her children, the eldest of whom is in form three.
Chelagat, who narrated her tribulations with pain, said she is about to lose hope after unsuccessfully undergoing three interviews, yet she is fully qualified for employment.
She appealed to the governor to keenly look into their grievances because they have been diligently working towards improving healthcare services at the hospital for the longest time.
by Benson Kelio and Joshua Kibet
