The Health Cabinet Secretary, Aden Duale, has claimed that the government does not have enough money to absorb Universal Health Coverage Workers (UHC) on permanent and pensionable terms.
Speaking on Sunday, May 18, the CS claimed that the ministry only has Ksh3.5 billion, which is only enough to hire nurses on contracts.
Duale has, in turn, urged the Senate to allocate additional funds to ensure that all the UHC workers are employed on permanent and pensionable terms.
The CS has, however, maintained that the national government will not backstep in its move to transfer the payslip responsibility of UHC workers from the National government to the county government.
"I want you to listen to me; I don't have the money. The only money I have is Ksh3.5 billion, which is only for nurses' contracts, and their money will be handled by the county governments. And I want to assure you that from the first of July, I am going to transfer the whole payroll to counties," Duale stated.
The announcement by Duale comes a day after the workers said that all healthcare workers under the UHC shall withdraw from health facilities starting from Tuesday, May 20, over unaddressed issues by the ministry, including employment terms, the ministry's plan to transfer payroll, the failure of the county governments to have meaningful engagements with them and the failure to address the general welfare of the workers.
The medics, including nurses, clinical officers, public health officers, laboratory technicians, health assistants, and community health workers, were hired under the UHC programme between 2019 and 2020 to enhance access to essential healthcare services.
"We, the Health Caucus Kenya, on behalf of 8,571 healthcare workers serving under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program across all 47 counties, hereby issue this formal strike notice pursuant to the Labour Relations Act," a statement from the workers stated.
"This notice follows years of systemic neglect, unfair treatment, and continued violation of constitutional and labour rights by both the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Council of Governors," It added.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, May 14, Duale claimed that his move to transfer the workers' payslips to county governments was in line with the law. The CS urged the Medical Services PS, Ouma Oluga, to begin the transfer process in the next one and a half months.
Duale claimed that the former administration was responsible for transferring the UHC workers from county governments to the national government, a move he termed as unlawful.
"I will not reverse my decision to transfer UHC workers' payslips to the county governments because the national government does not have any contract with them," he said.
