Health unions are now demanding a meeting with the health CS in an effort to resolve the impasse around the hiring of UHC staff.
The terms of employment of the more than 8,550 staff engaged during the Covid-19 pandemic has become a thorny issue between the unions and the two levels of government.
The Council of Governors in a summit held in Naivasha over the weekend resolved to extend their contract by another three years contrary to earlier promises by the government that they will be absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms.
This has rattled the unions which have come out to reject the resolution terming the contracts as illegal and discriminatory.
The contracts of staff who were engaged when the country was experiencing a shortage of health workers are supposed to come to an end in May.
“Early next week on the day that we are going to communicate, all the leaders of the health unions in the health sector we are going to walk and invoke article 37 of the Constitution to present petitions to public offices,” Kenya Union of Clinical Officer's chairperson Peterson Wachira said.
During that period, the petitions will be presented to the Ministry of Health and Parliament.
“We shall be demanding to have a sitting with the CS health so that we can be able to resolve these things and if that will fail then we are of course going to communicate a date on when we are going to call our members to go on strike,” he added.
They comprise the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, Kenya National Union of Nurses and the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentist's.
Others include the Kenya National Union Medical Laboratory officers, the Kenya National Union of Pharmaceutical Technologists and officers and the Kenya Union of Nutritionists and Dietitians.
