Patients at a private Elgeyo Marakwet
hospital are
sleeping on the floor as those from public facilities are seeking treatment there amid a nurses' strike.
Doctors and a few nurses at Kapsowar AIC Mission hospital in Marakwet West have been overwhelmed since the strike began last Monday, the management said.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses called the strike to compel counties to sign and register their Collective Bargaining Agreement.
They said on Monday they they will not return to work until the deal is implemented and disapproved calls for medical interns to assist patients in hospitals.
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Gerhard Schumarker, a director at the mission hospital, said on Tuesday that they have received more pregnant patients from surrounding counties.
Schumarker noted the
hospital offers caesarian delivery, which patients from public hospitals prefer as they are afraid of outcomes where nurses are unavailable.
“Several patients sleep on mattresses on the floor due to lack of adequate bed capacity,” he added.
The director said the management has
recalled doctors and nurses on leave to bolster service delivery.
“We are running out of essential drugs due increased volumes but are making calls to supply agencies,” he said.
Schumarker also noted the facility
is expecting more doctors as a result of intervention by the county.
He urged the Ministry of Health to support mission hospitals as they offer 40 per cent of medical services in the country.
Elgeyo Marakwet health executive Thomas Ruto said last Tuesday that the county quickly deployed volunteer nurses to restore services after their nurses joined the strike.
He said the health workers, led by
their county secretary Benson Biwott, lied to the public about the cancellation of their Sh20,000 service allowance.
Biwott claimed the allowance awarded in December was scrapped after the January payment.
But Ruto maintained the nurses have been receiving it, albeit under health service allowance.
“The service was renamed after other health workers demanded a similar offer," he said.