Crisis at Kenyatta University hospital as medical staff down tools

Services at the Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) were paralysed yesterday when medics and other support staff downed tools to protest working conditions at the Level 6 facility.

Led by representatives from two unions, the workers asked the Ministry of Health to urgently address a number of grievances including sexual harassment, working for long hours and waiver of staff medical bills for those in critical care departments, among others.

The industrial action caught patients by surprise, leaving hundreds stranded at the wards without medical care as the workers held demonstrations in the hospital compound.

Ann Wanjiru, who had brought her sister to undergo a breast surgery after she was confirmed to be having breast cancer is among tens of patients who were caught up in the crisis.

“I came from Muguga village in Thika in the company of my sister who was to undergo a breast operation. I am very disturbed by the fact that she is now suffering without anyone to attend to her. The wrangles between the management and the staffers should be addressed with immediacy to avert continuity of this catastrophe,” said Wanjiru. 

Another patient explained how they arrived early in the morning and were actually in the process of being attended. It is only after her mother was put to bed that all the medics and other staffers left the wards for the protests.

“She is alone, devastated and pained. In her critical stage, we are disturbed and confused on what to do,” Alex Kiragu told journalists.

The protesters also took issue with the recent suspension of the hospital Chief Executive, Ahmed Dagane, who was sent on compulsory leave by the management board and appointment of Dr Isaac Kamau as acting CEO.

They demanded Dagane’s immediate reinstatement.

“As employees, we are puzzled by the timing, knowing that the current board’s term expires in March 2025. We are also deeply concerned by the appointment of Isaac Kamau who lacks the qualifications required to even hold a director-level position in an organised setup,” the workers said in a statement.

The worker say that despite the Ministry of Health overturning the Board’s decision, management went ahead and formed a group where they are transacting business with Kamau as their chief executive.

An attempt by members of the management to address the press was thwarted by medics who shouted them down at the entrance to the administration block.

The unionists led by Dr Vincent Oyiengo of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union and Justin Kinoti for the Kenya National Union of Nurses gave the hospital management 24 hours to act on their demands or face withdrawal of services.

Among the grievances, employees want payment of nurses and doctors’ uniform allowances, risk extraneous allowances and radiation exposure allowance for staff working in radiology.

“As KUTRRH employees, we demand the immediate disbandment of the current board, which has outlived its usefulness. A caretaker board should be put in place to facilitate the selection of a new board that seems focused on self-enrichment at the expense of employees and patient care,” Oyiengo told journalists.

The Hospital Board chaired by Prof Olive Mugenda sent Dagane on leave pending investigations into allegations of misappropriation of funds.