Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has appointed a committee to address the sanitary crisis at the Kerugoya Hospital.
In a statement read on her behalf by the County Secretary Joe Muriuki, the governor tasked the Chief of Staff, County executives for environment and gender as well as the chief officer for health to ensure normalcy is restored at the hospital, which has been in a pathetic state for the last two weeks, after over 200 casual workers were sacked.
The county chief of staff Selah Bogonko attributed the sacking to the high wage bill in the health sector.
Muriuki said the hospital sanitary status has been restored to normalcy after the county engaged casuals from the environment department to clean up the facility, the largest in the county.
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The Kenya National Union of Nurses on Saturday gave the county government a 72-hour ultimatum to act or it would recall its members for fear of a disease outbreak.
The task force is expected to report back in 14 days on the status of the health sector in the county.
— Anne Waiguru (@AnneWaiguru) May 12, 2019
This move comes as Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki says her ministry will continue to ensure an educated, competent and motivated nursing and midwifery workforce.
In her statement as Kenya joined the rest of the world in marking the world nursing day, the cs said the ministry will also optimize policy development, effective leadership and mobilize support to invest in evidence-based nursing and effective midwifery workforce development.
As the largest health profession in the country, the cs observes that if harnessed appropriately nursing has a vast potential in helping the country in its vision to effect universal health coverage.
The International Nursing Day is celebrated around the world on 12th of May, the anniversary of the nursing founder Florence Nightingale’s birth.
The theme of this year international nursing day is ‘A Voice To Lead; Health For All’.
