Striking nurses, clinical officers threaten to upscale their boycott unless governors yield to their demands
Health workers in Kenya, including nurses and clinical officers, are threatening to expand their ongoing strike to private hospitals if county governments do not address demands for better pay and working conditions. Public medical services in several counties remain paralyzed as negotiations stall.
Why it matters
The potential expansion of the strike to the private sector could lead to a total collapse of healthcare access for many citizens in the affected regions.
Striking health workers during Tuesday demos in Eldoret city
Striking nurses, clinical officers and laboratory technicians have threatened to extend their industrial action to private hospitals from next week if county governments fail to address their grievances.
The warning came as governors in the North Rift remained unmoved despite demonstrations by health workers in Eldoret on Monday, where they demanded the implementation of long-standing labour agreements and improved working conditions.
Medical services remained paralysed in most public hospitals across Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Trans Nzoia, Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties as the strike entered another day.
Waving placards and blowing vuvuzelas, the workers marched through the streets of Eldoret before proceeding to the Uasin Gishu county assembly and the office of Governor Jonathan Bii, where they presented a memorandum outlining their demands.
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