On Monday morning, patients at St. Elizabeth Hospital Mukumu were treated to an unusual occurrence.
They found themselves left on their own without the attention of doctors, nurses and even subordinate staff who had down their tools.
The Catholic Mission hospital staff temporarily disrupted the flow of traffic along the Kisumu –Kakamega highway as they conducted peaceful demonstrations in demand of their salaries of between five to 10 Months from the hospital administration.
The hospital is situated in the Shinyalu sub-county, Kakamega County.
The demonstration was in the middle of the road between Khayega market and Bishop's residence near the Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School.
The staff especially the medics including the nurses, doctors, lab technicians and others demanded their salaries saying the last time they were paid was in August.
“We are professionals, we do our work based on what we are trained to do and we’ve been so patient with the facility because no one will go for five months without pay and still go to work," one of them said.
"None of us has failed to go on duty for those five months and we have not heard clear communication towards the same so we have been patient enough."
They added:
"We have assisted, but now we resorted to this as the last option because we didn’t have any other avenue left to address the issue of the delayed salaries."
The staff said they have responsibilities and bills to foot, especially this January and that they also have bank loans which have accrued heavy penalties so they would not take it anymore.
The cleaners in the facility on their part have gone without salary for a paltry 10 months.
When reached for a comment from the administration, Father Vincent Mukokho who spoke on behalf of the hospital board said they were pushing the National Hospital, Insurance Fund-NHIF to pay the hospital so that they can pay the staff salaries.
“We are very sorry for this and we are asking our staff to exercise a little more patience as we also put pressure on our debtor, the NHIF to pay us so that we can pay their salaries,” said Father Mukokho.
