Salaries and Remuneration Commission on Wednesday put damper Health workers strike at the Kenyatta National Hospital, saying their clamour for pay review is ill-advised and misguided.
In a statement to newsrooms, SRC argued that the workers cannot push for salary review based on re-categorisation because their jobs remained the same.
“The Kenyatta National Hospital management has been in discussion with the relevant trade unions for additional pay, over and above what has been advised by the Commission,” said SRC.
Further, the salaries commission said it advised KNH to retain the job evaluation salary structure on the basis that institutional re-categorization is not a basis for change in the relative worth of jobs.
“The industrial action at KNH is as a result of demands for pay increase outside the Commission’s advice,” said the commission.
On Monday, hundreds of patients admitted at KNH were discharged while those who had sought treatment were turned away as there were no medical officers to attend to them.
Services remained paralysed at the referral hospital, the biggest in East and Central Africa, as health workers downed their tools because of the stand-off over pay with the SRC.
When People Daily toured the hospital it witnessed the sorry state of affairs as some relatives had to carry their patients back home or wait for hours hoping help would come their way.
