• KMPDU wants all health workers to be exempted from PAYE for at least 12 months and state to effect payment of emergency call allowance for all doctors in the public service.
• In addition, the medics want to the government to provide PPEs in line with World Health Organisation standards and prioritise testing of health workers.
Image: HESBORN ETYANG
Health workers want the government to establish a Sh3 billion fund to cushion them as they put their lives on the line to save Kenyans suffering from Covid-19.
The medics also want an emergency allowance of Sh15,000 for all health workers, Sh5,000 for frontline support personnel per month and about 30 million personal protective equipment (PPEs) for three months.
The allowances, they said, should be in addition to the current risk allowances paid to all health personnel in the country.
These are among the raft of demands contained in a memorandum submitted to the Senate ad hoc Committee on Covid-19 by the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union.
The panel, chaired by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, has been receiving proposals from stakeholders on how Kenyans can be insulated against the health and economic effects of the pandemic.
Emphasising how doctors and other frontline workers have been adversely affected in the line of duty in other counties, the union said there is a need for a comprehensive compensation package of all health workers.
More than 100 doctors have been infected in the US, Italy, France and Germany, while others have succumbed.
“Already, four doctors have tested positive and 62 health workers are under quarantine,” KMPDU acting secretary general Chibanzi Mwachonda said in the memorandum.
The union proposed the creation of an Occupational Injury and Disease Fund as subsidiary legislation to the Public Finance Management Act with a seed amount of Sh3 billion to cover all frontline workers in public and private sectors.
“The amounts payable to the workers shall be as prescribed in the Work Injury Benefits Act 2007,” the document reads.
They also want all health workers to be exempted from Pay As You Earn for at least 12 months, and the government to effect payment of emergency call allowance for all doctors in the public service.
In addition, the medics want the government to provide PPEs in line with World Health Organization Standards and prioritise testing for health workers.
For the first containment period of three months, they want 8,280,000 surgical masks, 4,140,000 N95 masks, 4,140,000 disposable gowns, caps, hazmats, shoe covers and face shields, 92,000 medical glasses.
“The unavailability of adequate personal protective equipment for the frontline healthcare workers is an issue of great concern and urgently needs to be resolved,” Mwachonda said.
They are also demanding for provision of identification passes and/or branded Hi-vis Jackets to Health Workers for high visibility.
The doctors want the state to provide and facilitate access to online training and up to date information on Covid-19 as well as guidelines for the protection of vulnerable health workers with pre-existing chronic ailments.
The medics have also asked the county and national governments to facilitate the provision of transport – school buses, public institution buses and designated taxis – and meals for health workers at every health institution responding to Covid – 19.
The meals should be prepared at health facilities or outsourced from catering services from government facilities.
They also are appealing to the state to provide accommodation for health workers in designated Covid-19 facilities as most of them will not go home to their families to prevent infection.
“The government of Kenya should budget for the cost of accommodation and consider nationalising hotels nearby health facilities for the duration of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” they say in the document.
The union has demanded absorption of all unemployed doctors – about 1,000 across the three cadres — pharmacists, dentists and medical doctors.
All development funds, they said, should be reallocated to healthcare to develop the capacity in combating the pandemic.
KMPDU also seeks an end to disputes with employers in public and private sectors so all health workers can focus on the infection.
In this regard, they have asked Kirinyaga and Laikipia counties to reinstate the medics they sacked. Taita Taveta county should reinstate the withheld allowances for the doctors on study leave.
They want the county and national governments to scale up the ICU bed capacity to at least 500 to specifically handle Covid -19 patients across the country and an equivalent number of ventilators.
“KMPDU proposes that each county have a dedicated critical care unit for Covid-19 with a bed capacity of at least 10 beds and 30 additional beds be set up at the national level,” they said.
Edited by E.Kibii