Healthcare crisis looms in Lamu County as medics go on strike over delayed pay and job stagnation

Lamu County medical practitioners have joined the list of other counties on strike over salary disputes.

The medics, comprising nurses and clinical officers drawn from various county health facilities in the lamu, opted for industrial action after the county government failed to meet their demands after expiry of a 14-day ultimatum.

Speaking in Mokowe today during the protest, Lamu County Health Workers Union Chairman Stephen Ewoyi stated that the strike had been drawn following the county government’s reluctance to address long standing issues affecting county health workers in Lamu.

“The current administration seems to have shut the door to addressing the issue of promotions among health workers for which, a large section of specialized medics seem to have stagnated at one job group for more than 10 years.

He further said that the medics demands to address promotions seems to have fallen on deaf years, despite assuarances by the county government that these concerns would be addressed since last year.

Ewoyi further said that career progression among Lamu county medics seems to have become virtually non existent with very few being afforded the opportunity to further their studies in a bid to improve on service delivery within their various sectors.

“Health care workers are demanding for fairness and equal chances for career opportunities and immediate redesignation to all medics who qualify,” the Lamu County Health Workers Union Chairman said.

Sentiments echoed by the LCHWU Secretary General Erick Otieno who highlighted that the county government has further failed to properly accord medics Permanent and Pensionable terms in preference for terms that are meant to subjugate the health workers.

He said that the contract terms that medical workers in Lamu were being given as early as this year have been unfair, and go against the good faith in ensuring that Universal Healthcare Coverage is achieved by ensuring good working conditions and terms for medical workers in the county.

Otieno also noted that the county government has persistently failed to ensure the timely payment of health workers salaries with the medics so far going for three months without pay.

“It is unfortunate that the county government has reneged on its promise of ensuring that medics are paid in a timely fashion given that they have also failed to implement the six percent salary increment with arrears since the agreement was struck by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission in June 1^st 2024,” he further reiterated.

On her part the Lamu County Health Workers Union treasurer Wahida Baile said that there is need for the county government to actively engage the health workers in a bid to avert a health crisis in the county.

“The county government should not only take pride in the infrastructure that they peddle to the public but also work towards ensuring that the human resource personnel behind the success of achieving Universal Healthcare coverage in Lamu are adequately compensated and their concerns addressed,” she said.

Lamu County Deputy Governor and CEC for Medical Services Dr Mbarak Bhajaj, in his statement however said that the health workers already know the county government’s position that there are no funds for promotion or to address job stagnation.

He however said that the county government remains open to addressing the plight of the health workers, whom he added are invaluable in ensuring healthcare service delivery stays on course, despite the financial constraints that the county government is experiencing at the moment.