The nurses’ strike in Tharaka Nithi county entered its third day yesterday.
A check by the Star established many patients are being transferred to private hospitals or public hospitals in Meru and Embu counties.
Nurses are demanding better pay.
Mary Muguongo, a teacher from Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School, Magundu, said she had to take her students to Chuka Nursing Home.
“I brought sick students at 8.30am but I nobody is attending to them,” she said.
“I am moving from one hospital to another instead of being in class, teaching.
Muguongo said the county government should listen to the nurses and look for ways to end the strike.
“Not all can afford to go to private hospitals,” she said.
Tharaka Nithi Kenya National Union of Nurses executive secretary Kennedy Micheni said they will only call off the strike after the county addresses their demands.
“The county government has resorted to propaganda. We have written to them because they are the ones who walked out of negotiations,” he said.
Health officer Magdalene Njeru could not be reached for comment.
Micheni said all medical workers are on strike.
He said the county has not honoured a return-to-work formula signed last year.
“We met Health chief officer Walter Mutegi and agreed all outstanding deductions were to be paid immediately,” Micheni said.
The agreement also stated the workers would be promoted in three months.
Workers’ allowances were to be increased, the agreement said.
Micheni said some workers are yet to be given house allowance and payslips.
Some employees hired in 2014 are yet to be placed in any pension scheme, he said.
“We do not understand how people who have worked for two years have no personnel numbers and have never seen a payslip,” Micheni said.
He said many do not know how much they are supposed to be paid.
“They only see an amount in the bank and assume it’s their salary.”
