Cleaners at Thika Level Five Hospital have gone on strike over unpaid salaries that have accumulated for seven months.
While addressing the press, Samuel Kinyua and Jackline Naliaka, leading the cleaners who work under Neru Company limited as their service provider expressed frustrations over the delay of salaries.
They stated that their bosses have consistently evaded their inquiries about their overdue payments.
Furthermore, they disclosed that some of them have been left homeless after their landlords locked them out due to unpaid rent, with some resorting to seeking shelter at the hospital.
Thika hospital cleaners noted that colleagues with school-going children are the ones particularly affected, struggling to fulfill their financial responsibilities such as paying school fees, repaying loans, and providing food for their families.
However, Biashara ward MCA Kennedy Mwangi while addressing the cleaners revealed that Kiambu County had already disbursed funds to the contractor to cover the salaries, contradicting claims made by the service provider.
He urged the governor to intervene and overhaul the management of Thika Level 5 Hospital, led by its superintendent, to improve operations and address the ongoing issues.
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Doctors’ Strike Continues as Patients are Stranded in Hospitals
This comes after the doctors’ strike enters the 25th day as Kenyans continue to suffer a lack of essential medical services while the government and medics engage in what seems like supremacy battles.
Doctors have been on strike since March 14 over the government’s failure to post interns and the health ministry’s non-adherence to the medics’ 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
On April 2, 2024, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said the government secured the requisite budgetary support in the amount of Ksh2.4 billion to facilitate the immediate deployment and posting of the 2023/24 cohort of medical student interns.
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“In that regard, all eligible medical student interns are urged to collect their posting letters from the Ministry of Health’s offices with effect from Thursday, 4th April 2024,” Koskei noted.
However, the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacist and Dentists Union (KMPDU) rejected the Ksh.2.4 billion offer for interns.
They stated that their absence on the negotiating table despite furtive efforts to address the pertinent and perennial problems that have plagued the nation’s health discredited the entire process.
Talks between the doctors’ union and the health ministry have been unfruitful as medics accuse the government of non-compliance with the court’s directives.
