Kenyatta University Hospital Staff Begin Protests With 10 Demands

Staff at the Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) on Monday, December 2, took to the streets to demand the removal of the hospital’s board chair, Professor Olive Mugenda.

In videos seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the angry medics are heard repeatedly chanting, “Mugenda Must Go”, a demand that was prompted by claims of mismanagement of the Hospital.

A petition by the staff undersigned by representatives from Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) outlined 10 demands from the medical and non-medical staff at the institution before they can resume working.

Noting that most of the employees had begun working at the institution in 2019, the memo noted that the staff had lamented since the pandemic but conditions at the hospital remain unchanged.

“As the Hospital continues to increase in staff and patient numbers, a number of issues have also arisen, most of which have been addressed to your office with little or no response at all, aimed at addressing the said issues,” part of the statement read.

“This has not only led to untold suffering among the aggrieved staff members not limited to poor staff morale, toxic work environment, stagnation in same job group, loss of income, mental ill health, staff attrition, just to name a few.”

They went further to list 10 demands they needed the hospital management to adhere to with immediate and proper designation and alignment of job grades being the top demand.

The memo went on to direct the management to declare its stance on sexual harassment at the workplace, a problem that has gone unaddressed despite several reports by victims which has further emboldened the perpetrators and affected the mental health and professional performance of the victims.

In a similar demand, the nurses at the hospital, who constitute the greater majority of staff also raised the issue of perennial harassment by their leadership and unfair treatment.

This concern was also raised when the workers demanded equity and fairness at the workplace, especially on employment terms. They reported that despite their requirements being similar, some were employed on a permanent basis while others were on a contract basis retarding their career progression.

In the same vein, they demanded a review of working hours from the current 180 hours to 160 hours and a revision of staff welfare to match the hospital’s level six status.

To achieve the latter, they demanded; the provision of a functional staff clinic, a clear policy on how to handle sick-offs, public holidays, and bereavement, functional call rooms per department, a fully equipped doctors’ lounge per department, and a waiver of staff medical bills.

They also demanded the establishment of a Doctors Plaza for private and more specialised care an increase in allowances, and the establishment of a Research, Ethics, and Review Committee.

The allowances demanded were; nurses and doctors uniform allowance, risk allowances for all the medical and non-medical staff, leave allowance at one-month basic salary or CBA rates, and radiation exposure allowance for the necessary medical staff.