A 43-day nurses’ strike in Kenya that paralysed public hospitals has ended after the government and the nurses’ union signed a return-to-work agreement, reports ABC News.
Seth Panyako, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives, said last week that his members would return to hospitals within 24 hours. He added that the agreement provided 45 days for negotiations to conclude on the implementation of a collective bargaining agreement that was reached in 2017 after a six-month strike.
That agreement remains unimplemented due to what the government has termed budgetary constraints.
The development came a day after nurses marched to the Council of Governors’ office, a body established to bring together Kenya’s 47 county governments.
The previous day, doctors has also threatened to join the walkout, citing an increased workload in hospitals as they covered for the striking nurses.
Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah, secretary-general of the doctors’ union, said doctors had become overburdened and “cannot do the nursing jobs”. He said hospitals were already dealing with a shortage of doctors and that the healthcare system required teamwork.
Atellah said the doctors’ union had given the government seven days to resolve the issues raised by the nurses, failing which the doctors would issue a strike notice.
Arrears
The strike had placed huge additional pressure on the public health system, as nurses demanded the implementation of the long-standing labour agreements, linked to salary arrears, allowances, staffing shortages, promotions and career progression, according to an AllAfrica report.
The nurses argue that years of unfulfilled promises and poor working conditions have damaged morale and undermined their ability to provide safe and effective patient care.
The Council of Governors has disputed the union’s position, recently saying the 2017 agreement was signed “under duress”. The union, however, maintains that the agreement was valid.
AllAfrica News article – Nurses’ Strike Deepens Pressure on Kenya’s Health System (Open access)
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