Kenyatta hospital emergency unit hit by sacking of doctors

The emergency wing at Kenya’s biggest referral health facility, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), has emerged as the biggest casualty of the ongoing purge on striking doctors, having lost three quarters of its medics in the initial sackings made on Wednesday.

The KNH board sacked 12 doctors for absconding duty and participating in an illegal strike — leaving the busy Casualty Department with less than half the medics it needs to function optimally.

The move deepens the health sector crisis that has left millions of ordinary Kenyans without access to affordable treatment in the past three months.

But KNH chief executive Lily Koros sought to play down the crisis, saying it doesn’t warrant panic among members of the public as the hospital had made special arrangements to handle the situation.

“Emergency cases are well taken care of throughout,” said Ms Koros, adding that most of those sacked were specifically working in the emergency unit.

Ms Koros was yet to confirm the exact number of those sacked from Casualty Department by the time we went to press.

At any given time the Accident and Emergency Unit keeps 30 doctors, usually referred to as medical officers, on call — working on a rotational basis.

Ms Koros said that whenever there is a shortage of staff or influx of patients, the referral facility engages more doctors on locum basis.

KNH’s casualty unit handles up to 700 patients a day. A reduction in number of doctors at the emergency wing by more than half means that only about 20 doctors would be handling the 700 critical patients in a span of 24 hours.

The 20 doctors are expected to work for six hours before changing shifts, translating to four shifts a day.

This means that with the majority of accident cases happening during the day only four doctors would be available for every shift of six hours attending to about 500 emergency patients — and 200 at night — bringing the doctor/patient ratio to 1:63.

Considering the nature of emergency situations, the current number of doctors at the facility’s emergency department is wanting.

READ: Crisis deepens as Kenyatta hospital sacks 12 doctors

Ms Koros, however, said that the hospital is not engaging locums at the moment since the workload is not overwhelming.

“In case of a mass emergency incident it is not the responsibility of the Emergency department alone but all doctors are mobilised by a team in charge of disaster management. There is a team in charge of that and there are mechanisms to handle it when it happens,” she said.

Doctors have been on strike for 96 days today demanding salary increment and better working conditions, subjecting poor households to agony.

After a number of back and forth negotiations to try to end the strike, the Council of Governors (CoG) has ruled out any further engagement with the defiant doctors.

CoG chairman Peter Munya said that county governments will carry out a headcount of the medics who are yet to resume work before commencing the process of hiring new ones.

Mr Munya said that the deadline for doctors to report to work elapsed Wednesday and that they would not be given another chance for negotiations.

“Their call is ill intentioned and in bad faith and is bound to fail. We are not taking them seriously. They have been approaching it (negotiations) with cards under the table,” said Mr Munya.

Mr Munya, the Meru governor, spoke during the 4th Devolution Conference in Naivasha.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacist and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has, however, insisted that the doctors would only resume work after the national and county governments sign the recognition agreements, the amended collective bargaining agreement and the return to work formula as was guided by the Court of Appeal under the mediation of religious leaders.

“While all doctors have been ready to resume duty, doing so under threats, intimidation and show of disrespect is tantamount to career suicide,” KMPDU secretary-general Ouma Oluga said on Twitter.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday accused the doctors of concentrating on private practice and only serving public hospitals for about two hours a day.

“It is unfair that the doctors still operate private practice yet expect us to pay them more. This is blackmail and we are not going to entertain it,” Mr Kenyatta said at the opening of the devolution conference.

Mr Kenyatta said the government was committed to a fair resolution of the impasse even as he impressed upon the striking doctors to remember their call to duty.

“There has to be fairness from the doctors too. They need to be guided by patience and practicality,” he said before he announced the withdrawal of the enhanced package his government had offered the medics.

The enhanced offer came with a 50 per cent pay rise among other benefits.