President Uhuru Kenyatta Thursday urged striking health workers to have mercy on citizens and give dialogue a chance.
Speaking in Makindu, Makueni County, on the final day of his Ukambani tour, the President said it was regrettable that innocent Kenyans should die as a result of lack of services in public healthcare institutions.
"I want to appeal to all Government employees, and especially our doctors and nurses, to have mercy on Kenyans because nobody has refused to dialogue with them. The Government is ready for talks and has already taken the initiative to engage them," said Uhuru.
"Why should we have lost more than 14 lives already? Even if a solution is finally found, will you resurrect those who have lost their lives?" he posed.
Uhuru noted that for the past few weeks, the Ministry of Health and county governors had been engaging health workers' unions in talks to resolve the impasse and pleaded with them not to put the lives of innocent Kenyans at risk.
The President expressed confidence that the ongoing dialogue between the Government and striking health workers would soon bear fruit and urged all stakeholders to work together for a quick solution.
Uhuru also blamed county governments for failing to use funds disbursed to them on key priority areas that directly affected ordinary citizens - such as health, agriculture and water.
"If you estimate the amount of cash that has been disbursed to county governments for the past four years, it is well over Sh1 trillion and that is not a small amount of money. The problem is counties have not focused their monies on the key areas; they want to do everything and that is where the problem comes from," he said.
"If county governments would channel a great deal of resources to health and agriculture, I am certain we would have made tremendous progress," said Uhuru.
The President praised Governor Kivutha Kibwana for launching a free universal healthcare scheme for Makueni residents, the first of its kind in the country.
"I want to thank your governor (Prof Kibwana) because of the free healthcare policy by his government. It is a wonderful thing, and that is what we call focus," said Uhuru.
Ethnic backgrounds
Uhuru said the Jubilee government was committed to an all-inclusive government where all Kenyans, irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds, could access essential services.
He toured Makindu Level 4 Hospital where he commissioned health equipment before opening a Kenya Medical Training College campus.
He was accompanied by his deputy William Ruto, governors Kibwana and Alfred Mutua (Machakos), MPs Patrick Musimba (Kibwezi West), Francis Mwangangi (Yatta) and John Munuve (Mwingi North).