Barely a week after KMPDU issued a strike notice, the National Advisory Council of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) has announced a 14-day strike notice.
KUCO notes that members have not been provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) amid the fight against coronavirus.
The strike notice was issued after a clinical officer succumbed to Covid-19 related complications.
Last week, KMPDU issued a 21-strike notice after losing about six senior doctors to the virus in less than a month.
In a press statement issued on Sunday, the union indicated that most of the deaths within the medical fraternity are due to failure to implement health guidelines that would see healthcare workers in the vulnerable group exempted from work.
According to KUCO National Chairman Peterson Wachira, they have lost seven clinical officers due to Covid-19.
The latest death saw David Makori, a cataract surgeon, succumb to the virus.
“We have been asking the government to exempt the vulnerable from duty, the late was part of that…We gave an ultimatum of 7 days, but they have turned a deaf ear, no response from employers and our vulnerable continue to be exposed. The government needs to learn to listen to experts because that is not happening,” said Mr. Wachira.
“We are giving a strike notice of 14 days. If they go to court and stop that, we will invoke the occupational hazard act that will force us to leave our workspaces until they are safe. We are demanding, it is not optional, that a Health Service Commission (HSC) must be constituted in amendment of the constitution, we can’t continue to take medical workers lives for a ride.”
Furthermore, KUCO is also calling for health risk allowances, 3,000 clinical officers' employment on a permanent and pensionable basis, and introduction of the HSC in the health amendment bill.
