A hundred doctors who have been hired by the county government of Kisumu will receive their salaries despite not offering any services to the county.
Health Executive Prof Judy Attyang said the 100 doctors were hired in October 2019 but the county has failed to post them to any health facilities.
Speaking on Tuesday, Prof Attyang said the county risks losing more than Sh130 million to pay the doctors who have already signed the contract with the county.
Prof Attyang said the doctors were supposed to report to work immediately after signing their contract on October 14, 2019.
She added that the County Public Service Board had advised the county government to hire 79 doctors since there was no money to pay the wages for more doctors.
Attyang, however, said the county hired 179 doctors and they were only able to post 79 doctors to various hospitals while the 100 will have to wait until the next financial year to be deployed once they get the money.
“We only advised the board to hire 79 people under the Universal Health Coverage programme, but they ended up hiring 179.”
“It is true that the 100 were hired, but we cannot post them because we do not have money but we will have to backdate their pay once they are posted,” she said.
The health workers had signed a three-year contract with the county with the lowest worker being paid a basic salary of Sh24,580.
The doctors in Kisumu were on strike since December 6 after the county government failed to honour a return to work formula it signed with the doctors in June but called off their strike on December 28.