NURSES JUSTIFIED TO GO ON STRIKE -BUT SHOULD BE SENSITIVE TO PLIGHT OF POOR KENYANS
By Ezekiel Kuloba,
In 2017, this country was treated to the longest industrial action ever experienced in the health sector since independence. The Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) withdrew their services in protest of what they termed as poor remuneration. For five months, operations at public health facilities were grounded as nurses stood their ground. Whereas it is not obviously clear about the repercussions of the strike, cases of increased mortality rates at various hospitals, health centers and dispensaries were adequately reported by our mainstream media. The strike which lasted for 151 days was eventually called off after a return-to-work formula was developed and agreed upon between the nurses’ union on one hand and the Council of Governors (CoG) and the Ministry of Health on the other handon November 2, 2017.
In the return-to-work formula, the government consented to a nursing allowance of KSh 23,000 and a uniform allowance of Ksh 15,000 all of which was to be taken into account in the 2018/2019 budget. A Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) towards this end was supposed to be signed within a month after the strike was called off. However, the CBA was never signed and only a handful of counties have paid the agreed upon allowances thus occasioning the current nationwide strike in counties that have reneged on the November 2, 2017 return-to-work formula.
This strike therefore raises a number of fundamental questions touching on moral dilemma and ethical standards of the parties involved. Why would government fail to honor its own pledge? Were the funds factored in the 2018/2017 budget? If yes, why weren’t the nurses paid? Are the nurses, bearing in mind their sensitive profession, justified to go on strike? The right to affordable and quality healthcare is one of the fundamental human rights enshrined in our 2010 constitution. Who should be held responsible for its violation by the nurses’ strike?
When the return-to-work formula was signed ending the five-month nurses’ strike, the country sighed a sigh of relief as the severe suffering of citizens came to an end. The nurses, in agreeing to resume work, believed that the government (both the CoG and the Ministry of Health) was acting in utmost good faith and honesty in ending the stalemate. It is therefore disturbing and worrying that all that was a scheme to get nurses resume work in order for the government to safe face. Obviously, such a strategy is not sustainable even though it brought temporary reprieve in the health sector. A responsible government that is genuinely interested in safeguarding the interests of its citizens should always be responsive and faithful enough when dealing with professionals responsible for the provision of healthcare instead of pulling public relations stunts that backfire after a short while.
Having been duped by the government, one can say that nurses are justified in downing their tools as a protest against such governmental dishonesty. Given that their work involves considerable risk and they equally have a right to fair remuneration, it is indeed rational that their interests should be taken very seriously. However, they also have a professional responsibility to provide healthcare services to the citizens of this country whose taxes are used to remunerate them. Although they are justified in pushing for their increased allowances, they should tamper their fight for their rights with a tinge of mercy to the suffering Kenyans. In as much as we are calling upon government to treat nurses and other healthcare professionals fairly, nurses and other healthcare professionals should be reasonable in their demands given that compared to other professionals in the same job groups, our nurses are well remunerated.
The nurses’ strike is just a tip of the iceberg. Clinical officers and doctors are also considering going on strike over various grievances. This is not the first time that they will be downing their tools. The health sector is facing a myriad of challenges which if not solved risk crushing the entire system. Whereas the Council of Governors and the Ministry of Education should be honest, genuine, truthful and sincere in dealing with the medical professionals, the later should be reasonable in their demands and considerate in their industrial actions. They should come up with more reasonable mechanisms for pursuing their interest while minimizing patients’ suffering. In Ireland, for example, nurses and midwives do not execute wholesale strikes but rather they do it intermittently.
Ezekiel Kuloba,Social , Political commentator