Makueni County Government has confirmed 216 healthcare workers, who had served on contract for more than three years, to permanent and pensionable (PP) terms.
Speaking on Wednesday at Mother and Child Hospital, Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr said that 50 nurses, 24 registered clinical officers, 18 medical laboratory technologists, 12 pharmaceutical technologists, 11 psychological counsellors, and 4 emergency technicians were among those who have been confirmed to permanent and pensionable terms.
Consequently, Mutula disclosed that his administration is committed to improving the welfare of all county staff saying he has instructed the office of the County Secretary (CS) to initiate and follow through conversion of officers into permanent and pensionable positions as per existing labour laws.
“My administration is acutely aware of the plight of the healthcare workers who have been serving on contractual terms and expected to offer similar output as their counterparts on permanent and pensionable terms. Contractual staff face unfair working conditions such as job insecurity, unequal pay, lack of training opportunities and inability to access credit facilities, just to mention a few,” said Mutula in a speech he read on Wednesday.
“As a team leader, I made a commitment to put staff welfare as a top priority. I have instructed the office of the CS to initiate and follow through conversion of all county staff into permanent and pensionable terms in line with existing laws and fair employment practices,” he added.
As part of this commitment, 917 employees across various cadres in the county government have since been promoted after years of stagnation in the same job groups.
Among those who have benefitted were 56 doctors, including six consultants, who were elevated to Job Group R, while three senior consultants were promoted to Job Group S in recognition of their critical contributions.
In a major boost to specialized care, the county has also hired its first neurosurgeon, who is now stationed at the Makueni County Referral Hospital (MCRC).
Also, he assured the health workers working under the national government’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) on contract that they are in consultation with the Council of Governors (COG) and Ministry of Health (MOH) to settle their employment terms once and for all to end the discrimination they are experiencing.
“I am aware of similar predicaments facing our brothers and sisters working under the national government UHC contracts who face uncertainty every time their contracts lapse, this is unacceptable. We are in consultation with the COG and MOH to settle your employment terms once and for all and put an end to the discrimination in engagement of healthcare workers serving the same patient,” he posed.
While reading his speech, the governor pointed out that the government sponsored 54 and 24 officers to undertake promotional courses in the Senior Management Course (SMC) and Strategic Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) at the Kenya School of Government last financial year.
On labour unions, Mutula said he was ready to work with unions harmoniously and challenged them to stop protests that negatively impact the services to the citizens.
In this regard, he challenged the Department of Health to finalize all discussions with the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers (KNUMLO) on their agreement, as well as the nurses collective bargaining agreement.
Those who accompanied the governor were Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili, County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for department of Health Joyce Mutua and her counterparts for ICT, Education and Devolution Japhet Mang’oka and Nicolas Nzioka, County Assembly Speaker Douglas Mbilu, several Members of County Assembly among others.
By Patrick Nyakundi
