34 health workers have so far contracted Covid-19 in the country since the first patient was announced on March 13, 2020.
Speaking from Afya House, Health Director-General Patrick Amoth announced that 5.5 per cent of individuals who had tested positive for the virus in the country were health workers.
"Out of the 621, 34 health workers have tested positive for the virus either directly at their places of work or indirectly. Like I know of a doctor who had tested positive after he visited a friend who had the virus," the DG stated.
The DG reiterated that regardless of testing positive, health workers had been on the forefront, trying to combat the virus.
"We have not had any death of a health worker. They are at the forefront fighting the disease, putting them at the greatest risk of contracting the virus from the patients that they serve," he stated.
Frontline medics constantly come into contact with Covid-19 patients and are at a risk of contracting the disease.
On April 11 2020, the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers threatened to down tools if the national government did not guarantee the safety of medical practitioners fighting Covid-19.
KUCO Secretary-General George Dibore warned that the union would withdraw their services if the workers would not be protected.
At the time, Dibore stated that they had received information of various COVID-19 positive cases among medics including; a clinical officer in Ngara Clinic in Nairobi, a clinician stationed at the Kenya Ports Authority in Mombasa, two in Mombasa County’s public health facilities and one in Baringo County.
Amoth's announcement came moments after Health CAS Rashid Aman disclosed that 14 more individuals had tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of cases to 621.
He added that five more individuals had recovered, bringing the total to 202.
Meanwhile, a section of health workers have rejected the way in which the Salaries and Remuneration Commission plans to share the Ksh 3 billion welfare package.
The workers stated that the method used to allocate the package discriminated against some of those who were in the frontline fighting the disease.
