•The Covid-19/UHC staff got the three years extension following intense lobbying by governors to avert potential disruption of health services in the counties after the expiry of their contracts on May 31.
•The recent full pact carries 17 agreements, most of them needing the commitment of the government.
Image: TONY WAFULA
The Ministry of Health has committed to create a path, in the next eight months, towards full employment of all current contract medical staff.
More than 10,000 medical workers in the country are employed under contracts.
They include 8,500 healthcare workers employed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic whose contracts were recently extended for another three years.
In a deal with health unions, the ministry said it will craft a path to their full employment.
“We hereby commit to work together to facilitate absorption and mainstreaming of national government contract staff (including Covid- 19/UHC staff), and engaging Council of Governors to develop a clear plan for absorbing other contract staff,” the two sides said in a deal.
The deal was signed by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei and signed by health officials including Health CS Susan Nakhumicha.
The agreement follows a series of meetings convened by CS Nakhumicha and Koskei in early October.
The final agreement was signed during Mashujaa Day celebrations, but the magnitude of those commitments is only beginning to emerge.
All registered unions representing health workers signed the agreement.
The Covid-19/UHC staff got the three years extension following intense lobbying by governors to avert potential disruption of health services in the counties after the expiry of their contracts on May 31.
In a letter from Council of Governors CEO Mary Mwiti dated June 21, all county public service boards were directed to renew their contracts for another three years.
She said this was after a letter from the Ministry of Health dated May 31 and a virtual meeting held on June 5 between CoG, secretaries to the county public service boards and county chief officers for health.
“In the letter, the CS granted approval for renewal of the contract for UHC staff for another three years under the same terms,” Mwiti said.
“In the virtual meeting, the council clarified the issues that were not clear and guided the county public service boards to begin the process for the renewal of the UHC staff contracts to enable the procedure to be seamless and avoid service disruption in the health facilities.”
The Mashujaa Day deal aims to avert any strike for the next 12 months.
“There will be no industrial actions as long as the employer keeps their end of the bargain. So, there must be a commitment from both sides,” Peterson Wachira, chairman of the Kenya National Union of Clinical Officers, said.
The pact bound health workers “towards industrial harmony and peaceful relations for the period of the declaration (12 months) based on the pledges contained in this declaration. This will allow them to jointly track progress, enabling attainment of the pledges included in the declaration.”
Officials who signed said President Ruto is keen to avoid disruptions as he rolls out the UHC.
The full pact carries 17 agreements, most of them needing the commitment of the government.
It binds the government to establish a way for medical staff to transfer between counties without having to resign, within 12 months.
It also says within nine months, the government must facilitate the implementation of pending promotions and re-designations for healthcare workers who meet necessary requirements.
The government agreed to, within two years, introduce county or region-based training programmes for health specialists so that they do not have to travel to Nairobi.
The government will also establish a centralised mechanism for Collective Bargaining Agreement on behalf of all employers.
The two parties agreed the Kenya Health Human Resource Advisory Council, a new body that was inaugurated in June, will track the implementation of the agreement.