Staff at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret have issued the government with a seven-day strike notice.

Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret

The over 3,000 workers led by their officials want the government, the hospital management and any other stakeholder to take adequate steps to address the various concerns they have.

They said failure to do so would lead to a strike beginning august 13, 2012.

Dr. Mogeni Mogaka, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General led the workers in issuing the strike threat.

He said that owing to a recurrent gross under-funding problem since its inception, the hospital was unable to meet its core functions of service delivery to the up to 20 million Kenyans it is meant to serve.

“The institution is faced with a budget deficit in excess of Sh4 billion in the current financial year contrary to its status of a national referral hospital. It is obviously not able to meet its infrastructural and human resource development needs,” said the doctor.

Mogeni said the hospital management had failed to honor its commitments to its workers in terms of remuneration, training and staff development.

He added that majority of its staff members are yet to be promoted years after the hospital was gazette in total contrast to their counterparts in other government hospitals.

Mogeni was addressing the press at the hospital precincts flanked by hundreds of the workers.

Also present were the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) officials and members.

KNUN secretary General Mr. Sammy Cheserek said they want their salaries harmonized with the rest of the civil service.

They said MTRH staff were yet to enjoy a boost in their basic salaries earlier announced by the Minister of State for Public Service that they was being enjoyed by their counterparts in other government hospitals.

“We at the MTRH are yet to benefit from the same; several allowances like house allowance and commuter allowance are paid at 40 per cent of what our colleagues receive,” complained Cheserek.

Mogeni demanded that the government takes steps to hasten the formation of the Health Services Commission (HSC) to effectively run the country’s health agenda.

“The commission is in line with the spirit of the new constitution but the government or its organs have made no single attempt to achieve this,” Dr. Mogeni said.

The workers also asked the government to honor the Return To Work Formula (RTWF) it signed with KMPDU committing to a set of pledges subsequent to the doctors strike of December 2011.

In the formula, the government committed itself to promotion of doctors, employment of new ones, remuneration of doctors in training (registrars) and payment of school fees for registrars which has not been forthcoming.

Mogeni lamented that interns at the hospital were yet to receive their remuneration four months after commencement of their duties.

“This has made it difficult for them to cope considering internship is a very difficult period in a doctor’s life,” he stressed.

Chief Shop Steward MTRH Mr. Paul Athing said the unimplemented KUDHEIHA Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) and KNUN agreement/CBA signed at the hospital had demoralized staff.

He said this has led to attrition and a high turnover significantly affecting service provision at the facility.

“KNUN’s recognition agreement is facing similar fate,” said Athing.

The unions want several employees employed on temporary basis for several years confirmed since their employment status was causing untold suffering to them and their families.

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