(Njogu wa Njeri is a columnist and a trained journalist)
Every year, Kenyans are forced to grapple with the debilitating effects of rampant strikes by civil servants.
Lately, nurses, teachers and doctors seem to own the battlefield against the defiant government.
Their pleas seem to make little or no difference after years of push and pull for better pay and working conditions.
The ongoing stand-off between the government and nurses has far-reaching effects on most Kenyans especially those who rely on public health facilities without the luxury to afford private health services.
The Kenyan Constitution and labour laws protect workers’ welfare and grant them the freedom for industrial action should their demands for a better working environment be unmet.
Notwithstanding, in the health sector, it goes without saying that patients stand to lose and in the worst case scenario, pay the ultimate price for a dispute they know nothing about.
As stories of patients suffering in the hands of striking nurses continue to surface, one is left wondering what the essence of fighting for better pay is, if it is done at the expense of the lives of poor Kenyans.
The health sector is one of the most sensitive departments and any industrial action taken by workers has direct detrimental effects on members of the public.
The effects that might ensue as a result of industrial action by public servants in some sectors can only be discussed in hushed tones.
Imagine if all law enforcers went on strike even for a day.
For a family that lost their kin as a result of past nurses’ strike or watched helplessly as they languished in pain, there is nothing they would loathe as a recurrence of such standoff.
They would simply term it as the government’s act of placing a price tag on the lives of its citizens.
Therefore the government, nurses and doctors unions need to agree forthwith and provide a lasting solution that favours all parties in a bid to put to an end, the suffering that patients are deliberately subjected to.
The taxpayers should not be excruciatingly working to keep the government’s services afloat then be subjected to untold suffering when they need to access them.
#hivisasaoriginal