Nurses at Kenyatta National Hospital have called off their strike after reaching an agreement with the government and hospital management.
The strike, which lasted two days, had affected services at the country’s biggest referral hospital, leaving many patients stranded.
In a statement on Tuesday, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the nurses and their union signed a return-to-work agreement after long talks.
“The industrial action by nurses at KNH has been officially called off following hours of intensive and constructive negotiations,” he said.
With the new contract, nurses are expected to benefit from improved medical insurance cover, clear career progression, and better working environments. The government has committed to addressing staffing issues that have been of great concern in hospitals.
The new deal also provides for hiring 100 nurses in KNH and 100 Health Care Assistants by the board to ease their work burden.
Nurses have always been complaining of working too much without enough rest. Currently, KNH is running at less than the required number of nurses with 2,300 nurses on duty as opposed to the required 2,800. Consequently, some nurses have been handling up to 40 patients in one ward, whereas in Intensive Care Unit, one nurse handles up to four patients.
This agreement also includes increased pay. Nurses will be entitled to a uniform allowance of Ksh25,000, nursing service allowance of Ksh30,000, leave allowance of Ksh50,000, and health risk allowance of Ksh5,000.
The government further agreed to release Ksh364 million to support hiring and improve services at the hospital.
Another issue raised during the strike was delays in remitting deductions such as loans and union fees. The hospital has now promised to process these payments by the 15th of every month starting next financial year.
Contract nurses will also be phased out into pensionable terms as well, a process anticipated to bring them greater job security.
The strike started on Monday, April 13th, following complaints about bad working conditions and slow reforms. Many of them had been working under temporary contracts for many years without any development.
With KNH services getting back to normal, all eyes are now turning towards Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, as nurses there have threatened to go on strike for 21 days.
