An article in the Star newspaper on Thursday last week by a concerned health worker about the worrying discrimination on "other" health workers raised concerns over the award of the Covid-19 emergency allowances to medics.
The concerned health worker noted that a group of workers was either deliberately or erroneously omitted from the token.
It is just a tip of the iceberg on the management of human resources in the public health sector.
Discrimination of any nature must be the last thing in a sector consisting of the most-learned men and women, if it must. It's possible to make the affected officers feel appreciated by reconsidering the said omission because it is small acts of love that make a great difference.
In his book Think Big, Dr Ben Carson, while commenting on the need to be nice to everyone especially those deemed lowly says "these under-recognised people can teach us, and even be important allies for us."
He adds, "as surgeons, if we do not consider all other workers as having value and as knowing - we are prejudiced, against which the Bible speaks strongly (then he quotes James 2:1-4)".
Since the Government complies with WHO in its practice and ILO guidelines on employee engagement, it should consider the issues raised in that article. It's imperative that they are instrumental in enhancing health.
This and many more reasons contribute to the calls for either reverting the health function to the national government or creating a Health Service Commission, similar to the Teachers Service Commission.
We can pump billions of money into the sector, but only with a motivated workforce will we achieve UHC and an enhanced healthcare system.
Samson Nyasimi, Nyamira.
