City Hall will employ more than 300 health workers to reduce the workforce deficit in county hospitals.
This will mark the first phase of the planned employment of 2,500 workers for all health facilities. Governor Mike Sonko on Thursday said the county is determined to fix the staff shortage.
The new employees will be distributed equally across all the 39 health facilities in the county. They will include 260 nurses and clinical officers, and 60 medical officers.
“We are going to advertise these jobs and we expect them to be on duty as early as February next year,” Sonko said.
The next phase of employment will be done in June next year. It will target 500 health officers. Nurses and clinical officers who have been working as interns and volunteers will be prioritised. Sonko ordered that the agreement reached a fortnight ago between the county and health workers be enforced without delay.
All promotion letters have been issued to all health officers as the county prepares for the second phase of promotions.
The county chief spoke during the official launch of a queue management system at Mama Lucy Hospital in Embakasi. The Sh5 million system, which was installed in September, will ease congestion. The facility serves about 1,200 patients a day.
The system allows patients to meet a vendor when they come in, pick a ticket number, which can be collected at different clinics in the hospital.
Hospital medical superintendent Musa Mohammed said the new system has improved services. “We’ve made tremendous progress, despite the few challenges at some of our departments.”
Those present included UAP Old Mutual Foundation chairman Peter Muthoka and hospital board chairman Joe Aketch. Aketch said health services have immensely improved since Governor Sonko took over.
Muthoka said they are committed to partnering with the county to support vulnerable communities and initiatives geared towards healthcare financing.
A new tuberculosis centre has been completed at the Mama Lucy facility and will be launched next week. A 66-bed capacity maternity wing will also be commissioned early next year.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
