situations in hospitals across the country/FILE PHOTO
BY UPESI NEWS REPORTER,26TH DEC,2016-Patients in public hospitals continue to writhe in pain as doctors stay put.Spot check done by UPESINEWS on Monday confirmed that most hospitals only have nurses while the doctors stay away. Things were even worse in voi in Taita taveta county with two people losing their lives.One of the dead was a pregnant woman who died in Taita Taveta general hospitals.
The strike by doctors countrywide has entered its 21st day.
At the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, the situation is not different and many patients are being turned away upon arrival.
Once a busy hospital, KNH has now been deserted, with some wards having only one patient.
The government has since deployed Kenya Defence Forces Doctors to deal with emergency cases.
At the moment only nurses and clinical officers are operating at KNH.
The situation may further worse after the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya on December 23 threatened to stop the supply of drugs to public and private hospitals by January 3, 2017 if the doctors’ strike won’t have been resolved.
The nationwide strike kicked off on December 5 and doctors have vowed to remain away until a disputed CBA is honoured.
The union is demanding a 300 percent pay increase for doctors but the government offered a Sh50,000 increase to the lowest paid medics.
The union rejected the offer and stated that the strike shall only be called off by the implementation of the collective bargaining agreement signed in 2013.