Oparanya asks health workers to resume duty

By BRYAN TUMWA

Kakamega county: Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has asked health workers to resume duty since their grievances were already being addressed by the county government.

He said even after holding a meeting with the medical staff to address their concerns about devolution of health functions, they still went on strike, paralysing services at the Kakamega County General Hospital and other facilities in the county.

Nurses countrywide went on strike on Tuesday to demonstrate against the devolution of services and questioned the capacity of counties to execute the health functions.

Oparanya sought to reassure medical practitioners in the county that his government was prepared to take on the responsibility of managing all the health affairs.

“The exercise of transfer of staff between the national Government and the county governments is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

“Prior to this, though the national government has been running our payroll, we have been paying our staff from the time the functions were devolved,” said Oparanya.

He made the remarks at Bukhungu Stadium during the commemoration of the Jubilee celebrations that marked Kenya’s 50 years of independence. The governor announced plans to rebrand health facilities.