Coptic Mission Hospital, Nairobi Employees have spoken out against poor working conditions at Coptic Hospital’s lab department, saying the environment is very toxic with constant profiling and frustration through an unfair duty rota.
Writing to this blog under the request of anonymity, an insider fingered one man named Allan Mungai as the cause of their misery. “Mungai is the one in charge of making the duty rota of the staff at the hospital's lab department. He is some small god in here. In fact, at least sisi wanaume, the ladies get it so rough because this beast makes advances at them, then you are being harassed,” the source informed us.
The employees accuse Mungai of delegating duties to one of his divas named Susan Ndungu.
She calls the shots on the posting of staff, which is beyond her official roles. “Kupangwa kazi vile one of his divas namely Susan Ndungu wishes. Susan was made to be in charge of Phlebotomy, but it's like she always has her way. She decides utafanya wapi saa na saa ngapi just because they are a thing with Allan,” the source laments.
Labor laws dictate that employees in the lab department should do a 48-hour duty in a week, but with the two lovebirds at the helm, most find themselves working for over 90 hours and are often punished over trivial misunderstandings.
On the other hand, they always accord some specific individuals special treatment when drafting the duty rota. “Just because you refused Allan Mungai’s advances, or you were of a contrary opinion to ‘Her majesty’ Susan's school of thought, she will irritate you and then tell Allan what to do with you. Allan and Susan work with close associates, the close associates who insult you, but the moment you try defending yourself they will use the rota to frustrate you” the source told us.
Adding: “There are people doing specific shifts. For instance, some people never work on Sundays and night shifts and before a rota is written they are asked what is comfortable for them. Sisi unapangwa kazi kuwa thrown anyhow, and they wait for you to complain that you face dismissal.” The oppressed staff say that despite being fully aware of the depressing situation, Lead HR Marion Atieno has been unavailable whenever they try to reach out and express their grievances. “This nepotism, tribalism, and favoritism are making us unable to offer the best. With long working hours towards those who don't get along with Susan or refused advances of Allan you can work all night shifts yet their associates do less than 48hrs weekly. Their inner circle of associates are always ghosting and never present but their hours still add up because the rota submitted to the bosses is different from the one plastered on the memo board,” the insider reveals.
They have vowed to pick up the matter with higher powers at the private mission hospital, in the hope that justice will be served. “Where shall we run to? To whom shall we go? We don't have people like Allan and Susan. I know the Director Mr Sskar who is not privy to these, will be shocked to find out. The two are taking Coptic down in terms of service delivery. My wish is that with all these unethical practices, the labour personnel need to do a prompt visit because we are at the mercy of Allan and Susan. You can't attend to patients while in a toxic work environment. Being a patient while attending to patients is a no!” the source concludes.