This archive report was first published on 22 August 2020.
Published on August 22, 2020, as Kenya grappled with a surge in Covid-19 cases, health workers across the country went on strike, citing poor pay, lack of personal protective equipment, and anxiety due to colleague deaths.
Health workers in Homa Bay County defied an Industrial Court order to return to work, while doctors in Nairobi were on their third day of strike, protesting pay complaints. Graduate nurses in the city, paid Sh300 an hour without gratuity or job security, were being tossed between the Nairobi Metropolitan Services and the county government.
The strikes came as the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health raised the alarm over healthcare workers' infection numbers, which had risen to over 800, with 16 deaths.
Kenya National Union of Laboratory Technicians alleged that even when they paid for their own insurance, the government did not remit the money.
Counties such as Nyamira, Kisii, and Siaya had moved swiftly to avert a crisis in the health sector by striking a return-to-work deal with medics. In Nairobi, nurses in Pumwani shared documents showing temporary contracts signed in April, for them to work for three months.
