Scores of health workers, employed under the Universal Health Care (UHC) programme in Murang’a County have threatened to halt their services if their grievances are addressed.
The medics have decried neglect by the ministry of health despite working for five years without being absorbed on a permanent basis.
The workers who staged demonstration in Murang’a town Tuesday, complained of only being paid half of the salary, compared to their counterparts, employed by the county government.
Led by the national chairman of Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUN), Joseph Ngwasi, they said despite several attempts of presenting their grievances to the ministry of health, nothing has been fulfilled.
Ngwasi noted the medics under UHC programme are suffering in counties and feel abandoned by the government.
“The medics under UHC work like their counterparts employed by the county governments, yet they earn less than half of what those under the devolved units earn. This is humiliation. We made several attempts to the ministry of health and other relevant government agencies but our cries have been ignored,” lamented Ngwasi.
The medics were employed in 2020 when the country was hit by Covid-19 and were deployed to support provision of health services at the counties, with only a few retained to serve level 6 facilities, which are under the national government.
“Initially we had an agreement with the government that these medics will work for a period of three years, then be given gratuity and thereafter be absorbed into permanent basis.
“It’s unfortunate that the government did not give the workers their gratuity after the three years, but instead the medics signed an extension of one year and after the period lapsed, they signed another contract of three years, which will end in May next year,” stated the chairman.
According to the existing labour laws, workers who do the same duties have to be paid the same salary noting that workers under UHC earn roughly Sh40,000, yet those under the county government earn Sh108,000.
Ngwasi expressed concerns over the recent reduction of budget allocation for health care, while increasing that of parliamentary services.
“In the country we have 8,571 medics under UHC who just need Sh3.5 billion to be absorbed on a permanent basis. We urge the parliament to factor this amount before the budget circle ends and help the suffering medics,” he added.
One of the medics, Wanjiru Kihara stated that they have been serving diligently at the county health facilities and their services have helped in treating and boosting health care at the county levels.
Wanjiru noted their colleagues who were deployed at the level 6 facilities have already been employed on permanent terms, wondering why the county governments cannot get increased allocation and absorb those at devolved units.
She said they will withdraw their services until the government pays them their gratuity and absorbs them into permanent terms.
Murang’a governor Irungu Kang’ata who addressed the striking UHC medics stated that the challenges facing the workers can only be solved if the national government enables counties to absorb them into permanent and pensionable terms.
“This issue is not only affecting those working in Murang’a County, but other counties as well, as the national government has not enabled us to give you better terms,” Kang’ata told the workers.
He added, “When the national assembly was passing the budget they should have included the funds required for the UHC programme.
The governor acknowledged the important role played by the UHC medics in the counties and noted that the medical facilities cannot operate at full capacity if they withdraw their services.
“Even though you are employed by the national government, you offer services to us in the counties and we are grateful,” he remarked.
Kang’ata assured the aggrieved workers that he will present their grievances to the council of governors, while petitioning the national government to allocate conditional grants to counties to enable them to deal with such issues.
“I will present your grievances to the council of governors, hoping that the national government will give counties conditional grants,” he added.
By Bernard Munyao and Purity Mugo
