Kenya Nurses End 43-Day Hospital Strike

A 43-day strike by hospital nurses in Kenya ended on Wednesday after the government and the nurses’ union signed a return-to-work agreement.

Seth Panyako, secretary-general of the nurses’ union, said members would return to hospitals within 24 hours.

He said the agreement provides 45 days for negotiations to conclude on the implementation of a collective bargaining agreement reached in 2017 following a six-month strike. The agreement has remained unimplemented because of what the government has described as budgetary constraints.

The development came a day after nurses marched to the Council of Governors’ office, which brings together Kenya’s 47 county governments.

Doctors had threatened on Tuesday to join the strike, citing increased workloads as they covered for nurses who were absent from hospitals.

Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah, secretary-general of the doctors’ union, said doctors had become overburdened and could not take on nursing duties. He said hospitals were already facing a shortage of doctors and that the healthcare system depended on teamwork.

Atellah said the doctors’ union had given the government seven days to resolve the issues raised by nurses, failing which it would issue a strike notice.

The Senate also discussed the closure of hospital dispensaries in some counties on Tuesday.

Nandi County Senator Samson Cherargei said there had been a “surge in deaths” and blamed the Council of Governors and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission for what he described as a national crisis.

The outcome of the 45-day negotiations on the implementation of the 2017 agreement remains pending.

SOURCE: AP