By Mercy Buyanzi
Nurses in the North Rift region who were hired under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Kenya held demonstrations in Kitale to call on the Ministry of Health to convert their employment terms to permanent and pensionable.
The nurses, who delivered petitions to the county government of Trans-Nzoia, said they have been operating under contract terms, resulting in significant disparities in remuneration compared to their counterparts with permanent positions.
The UHC nurses also claim they face discrimination, including exclusion from critical allowances such as service, commuter, health risk, and uniform allowances.
“We want the government to honor its promise of converting us to permanent and pensionable terms so that we can fully enjoy the remuneration benefits that we are supposed to receive, like our colleagues,” said Nurse Moses Samburuma.
They claimed the Ministry of Health was discriminatory for promoting 108 colleagues stationed in national health facilities, while the rest were left with unfulfilled promises despite having led the fight against COVID-19.
“The country was at a critical stage when our services were enlisted to boost the war against the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed some of our colleagues. We are unable to meet our bills since we have unstable job terms,” said Mr. Patrick Sitati.
They also called on the Council of Governors to champion their interests, saying county governments would be the major beneficiaries if they are absorbed, since health is a devolved function, yet most public hospitals suffer from nurse shortages.
The nurses were among 9,000 healthcare workers employed by the national government in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to bolster healthcare services. Some of these workers have since been absorbed into permanent positions, leaving the future of others uncertain.
By Mercy Buyanzi.
