Nurses in Taita Taveta county have protested over poor medical equipment and understaffing in
public health centres.
Addressing journalists on Friday at the Moi County Referral Hospital in Voi, the nurses urged the county
government to enhance the capacity of health facilities to ensure efficient medical services.
Boniface Mrashui, the county Nurses' Union secretary said many health centres lacked basic tools and
hardly received pharmaceutical supplies thus making it difficult to offer better services.
“Health workers are willing to improve services, but our efforts have terribly failed because the county
government has turned a deaf ear on our demands,” Mrashui
said.
He said the nurses shall start their strike on Monday, February 4, to force the government to implement
their agreement.
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“We have had several meetings with county government over the state of our hospitals," he added.
Mrashui further noted that the demoralisation of health workers due to poor working conditions was
a major contributor to the current health state in the county.
“Nurses are working for long hours in very poor conditions. In some
cases, we are forced to refer people to either the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa or to Makindu in Makueni
County,” he said.
Mrashui said
a crisis meeting convened on Friday by Taita Taveta Health executive Mwakisha
Makoko did not bear fruits.
He said that nurses won't return to work until the allowances are paid.
Taita Taveta Nurses Union chairperson Halima Hassan blamed the county government for turning a
blind eye on their suffering despite their dedication in service delivery.
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She also urged the county government to hire more nurses.
Halima said the government has failed to implement the previous agreement on increasing the number
of nurses.
She said the department was understaffed adding that nurses have been working in bad conditions.