- At Coast General , which has a capacity of 700 beds and the largest referral hospital at the coast, serves over 1,000 inpatient and outpatient every single day.
- Dr Hassan Mkuche said less than 30 patients are currently admitted at the facility. They are also not allowing new admissions.
Image: AURA RUTH
Patients at the Coast General hospital in Mombasa were on Monday morning turned away after health workers made good their threat to go on strike.
The facility, which is the largest referral hospital at the Coast with a capacity of 700 beds, serves over 1,000 inpatient and outpatient daily.
It is also the only major facility offering specialised treatment such us oncology, renal services and cardiology.
This is the second time since the beginning of this year that health workers in Mombasa have gone on strike over salary delays and non-remittance of the statutory deductions and loan repayments.
At the main entrance of the hospital, which serves all the six counties of the Coast region, patients were not allowed in.
“I came in at around midnight on Sunday. I was in pain and vomiting, but the health workers wanted to turn me away. However, because of my condition they decided to admit me,” one of the patients said.
The patient, who requested anonymity, said his children were asked to go and buy some medicines from chemists outside the facility.
“I was given a pint of blood and water to supplement what I had lost vomiting. The medicines bought by my sons were to stop the vomiting,” he said.
On Monday morning, the patient was discharged after he stabilised.
“In the morning they (doctors) asked all the patients to be discharged. I was informed that all the patients in the wards, including the causality wing, had been asked to go home,” he said.
At the pharmacy section, long queues were witnessed as the patients tried to buy the medicines before being discharged.
Another woman, who had brought in her daughter to see a dermatologist, said they were turned away.
“I was among the first people to arrive and the queue was long, but we were told that the doctor will not see us today,” she said.
Kenya Medical Practitioner, Pharmacists and Dentists Union Coast branch chairperson Dr Hassan Mkuche confirmed that patients are not being attended to at CGTRH.
“We have closed admission at this facility, which serves in excess of 1,000 people, both inpatient and outpatients. However, as we speak now there are less than 30 patients still remaining in the hospital, especially those in critical condition,” Mkuche said.
He said all the over 200 doctors and 900 nurses in Mombasa are on strike. However, very few staff have been left to take care of those in critical condition.
“We have about 20 doctors who are managing the patients in critical condition. As they stabilise, they are being discharged and eventually the other doctors will also join us in the strike,” Mkuche said.
He said Mombasa County government officials had called them for a meeting and promised to pay them their January salaries and non-remitted statutory deductions of up to December last year.
The county has failed to remit the National Health Insurance Fund, National Social Security Fund, insurance premiums and loan deductions for its staff from October last year.
“We have refused to be part of that deal. Unless they pay us all our salaries up to February and five-month statutory deductions, we are not going back to work,” he said.
The Kenyan National Union of Nurses Mombasa chairperson Stanley Mwailagho said they will paralyse operations in all public facilities in the county.
“The strike is on, we have more than 900 nurses in Mombasa. Some are here at Coast General Hospital and others in the public health facilities. If they do not pay our salaries, we will paralyse everything so that we send a message,” Mwailagho said.
He said it is disheartening that Mombasa county health staff are living as beggars.
“We are qualified staff, but we are living as beggars. Our children are being sent home for lack of fees. We are called doctors, but we cannot fend for our families,” he said.
Lab Technicians Union official Moses Maingi vowed they would not return to work until the issue of salaries is resolved.
“We have set our bare minimum payment of our full salaries for January and February and the remittances for five months. That is the only solution for this strike,” Maingi said.
Mombasa County Health chief officer Dr Khadija Shikelly told the Star they are working to resolve the impasse.
“We are actually going into a meeting to try and resolve those issues. We will brief you on the outcome of that meeting,” she said on phone.
-Edited by SKanyara