Patients bear the brunt as nurses down tools
Nurses in Mombasa have once again downed their tools to protest non-remittance of statutory deductions by the Mombasa County government, thereby paralysing activities in key public hospitals at the height of Covid-19 pandemic.
The go-slow has crippled both in-patient and outpatient services, as well as accidents and emergencies, where patients are being left unattended to.
Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) Mombasa Chapter secretary Peter Maroko, says the nurses are only handling patients in the Intensive Care Unit, the New Born Unit and Covid-19 isolation ward.
Delays of disbursement
According to Maroko, the nurses are demanding the remittance of pending National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) deductions dating back to July.
The union official expressed disappointment that the county government has continuously failed to remit monies, even after making the deductions from their pay slips.
“We have started our go slow involving clinical officers, nurses and physiotherapists because the county government has failed to remit our NHIF deductions for the last four months, this has made it hard for our officers to access health services,” said Maroko.
Contacted, Mombasa County Secretary Dennis Lewa, confirmed that the delay has been occasioned by delays of disbursement by the National Treasury but assured that by end of December, all deductions will have been remitted.
“We are in talks with them to reach an agreement because they have raised two issues touching on salaries and NHIF remittances, but about salaries we have already paid them up to date,”Lewa told the People Daily.
According to Maroko, nurses seeking optical and dental services are the most affected as their cover is not up to date following delays by the county government to pay.
