Nurses in Trans Nzoia County have given a seven-day strike notice to the county government for failing to address their grievances relating to service delivery.
Addressing a press conference in Kitale town on Friday, the nurses led by their union branch Secretary General Willy Sifuna and the Chairman of the Kenya National Union of Nurses Trans Nzoia Branch Edward Cheruiyot, the nurses said they will down their tools on the 4th of February this year.
According to Sifuna, nurses will only resume work after their demands are met adding that issues they want addressed are for the good of the residents.
He said talks are at an advanced stage with other health sector workers to join the strike to push the county government to improve working conditions at health institutions within the county.
He said efforts to meet the CEC member in charge of health to address the issues have been futile as she has always declined to meet them.
Sifuna said some of the issues to be addressed are lack of enough drugs and non-pharmaceuticals in the hospitals, implementation of a return to work formula, punitive transfers and unnecessary harassment.
Others are, the failure to operationalize acceptable organization structure and create a substantive position in the nursing department and persistent delays of salaries and inconsistent remittance of third-party deductions.
They also demanded the resignation of the County Executive Committee Member for health Christine Tanguli and the Chief Officer of health Charles Barasa for their marked failure to offer leadership in the health sector.
The Chairman of the Kenya National Union of Nurses Trans Nzoia Branch Edward Cheruiyot said nurses are working under poor working conditions and accused facility administrators of syphoning drugs and other equipment from the county hospitals.
He said the county government has not fulfilled its mandate of ensuring the health sector is transformed to serve residents well.
Madam Tanguli when contacted said she will address the issue after consulting with her bosses.
By Pauline Ikanda
