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In the wake of paralyzed healthcare services in some counties across the country over delayed salaries for medics, Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha now wants the striking doctors to resume operations in order to stop making innocent patients suffer.

Nakhumicha, who spoke to journalists from her office on Thursday, April 20, told the striking doctors to engage county governments in dialogue on how and when they will get their dues to avert a collapse of healthcare services.

“The health workers are not foreigners in this country, they live in this country and the president has said that as a country, we are in a bad state in terms of the economy. It’s upon them to allow for dialogue and for the president to steer the country towards economic recovery so that their issues can be addressed,” Nakhumicha said.

She made the plea at a time that public health services have been paralyzed in Vihiga, Bomet, Kisumu, and Nyamira counties after doctors downed tools from Wednesday, April 19, protesting salary delays and employers failing to remit statutory deductions.

Patients seeking health services

As a result, patients who sought medical attention in the affected counties were turned away, with some resorting to rushing to expensive private hospitals.

But Nakhumicha wants the doctors to be patriotic and continue serving as they wait for the government to address their concerns.

“Health is devolved and healthcare service delivery is done by the counties. The national government only provides policies and guidelines. What the Ministry of Health is doing is to mediate to ensure that what the health workers are asking for, the governor is able to provide,” she said.

She noted that the aggrieved healthcare personnel are Kenyans and should therefore allow the government time to pursue economic recovery for their smooth operations.

While expressing optimism that the doctors’ dispute will be amicably resolved, the CS stated that the government is seeking a permanent solution to solve the issues raised for posterity.

The CS announced that the government will soon operationalize the Kenya Health Human Resource Advisory Council so that it can advise on how to deal with health workers across all cadres.

“We are operationalizing the Kenya Health Human Resource Advisory Council so that it can advise the government on how to deal with health workers across all cadres in the country,” added the CS.

She, however, insisted that there must be some form of harmonization for the management of health workers’ welfare at the national level besides what the counties are doing.