Wednesday, May 15, 2024 –Clinical officers have announced an official commencement of their industrial strike starting today Wednesday midnight.
In its press briefing held today in Nairobi, the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers KUCO announced the withdrawal of its officers from duty citing remuneration reasons.
On the same note, the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) sitting in Nairobi, issued orders against county governments not to harass the medics during the striking period.
“Our strike is protected, the court buttressed this by protecting our members from harassment or disciplinary processes by the 47 Counties and Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, we are withdrawing all Clinical Officers from MOH facilities from midnight today,” KUCO made the announcement.
Clinical officers are medics who are qualified to stand in for trained doctors and do provide primary health care across the facilities in the country.
Their strike coming just days after doctors’ strike that took over 50 days to cool down after an agreement with the Ministry of Health led by Susan Nakhumicha.
And in areas where there are no doctors, the clinical strike starting today would hit hard residents who may be out to seek medication.
In the absence of doctors, it becomes hard for treatment to go on without clinicians stepping in for their seniors.
A source revealed that the clinicians have been on ago slow for about 45 days but today was their final day to down tools across the country.
Their key demand being the 2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement CBA which is yet to be fully implemented by the employer.
