KISII, Kenya, Feb 20 — Healthcare workers in Kisii have issued a 14-day strike notice to the county government over continued threats from a group of brutal enforcers linked to Governor Simba Arati.
Officials from health sector unions issued the ultimatum on Tuesday citing a hard work environment.
Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) Secretary General George Gibore said healthcare workers in Kisii are operating in a chaotic environment, exposing them to untold suffering.
“The governor has chosen to disrupt services, arbitrarily demoting and transferring staff. It is a shame!” Gibore remarked.
He said goons acting on Atati’s instructions have trailed and intimidated healthcare workers perceived to be hostile to the Governor’s agenda.
KMPDU (Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union) Secretary General Dr Dalji Chatela described the state of affairs in Kisii as shameful.
“For the last two years, we have witnessed cases where doctors who are doing work and when they get sick their salaries are stopped arbitrarily,” he said.
“The specialists are also working in very poor conditions,” Chatela explained.
Several health staff, among them doctors, have been denied study leave while others have been transferred to remote dispensaries, Chatela noted.
The officials said they would only call off the strike intended for March 4 if the county heeds the demand to retract the dismissal of doctors and reinstate their salaries.
“We are not begging as a union but demanding that these issues must be addressed before 4th March,” Chatela told journalists.
