Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has asked health workers at the Machakos Level Five hospital to resume work as the county moves to address their issues.
The more than 700 health workers downed their tools for the second day Monday, over what they claimed as failure by the county government to remit their tax dues to the National Health Insurance Fund, Kenya Revenue Authority, and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) among others.
In a media statement Monday, Mutua said that the workers issues are being addressed, adding that the failure could have been due to a technical problem.
Mutua added that the county government is keen to ensure that health workers welfare is catered for to avert crisis in the sector.
“We want to the health workers to resume work as we addressed their problems,” said Mutua in the statement.
The health workers complained that despite their tax dues being reflected on their pay slips, the money has not been remitted to NHIF, KRA and NSSF.
Speaking to the press on Monday, County Nursing Services Union secretary Halima Aden blamed the county finance department for playing games with their taxes.
She said that despite various complaints on the issues being raised by the department, no official response has been made.
“We have several times written to the finance department to have the matter addressed but nothing has happened,” she said.
Aden said that failure for the county to remit their taxes has seen them denied loans, medical and other services, insisting that they will only go back to work when the county will remit their tax dues to the relevant authorities.
Patients who had visited the Machakos Level Five hospital on Monday suffered in agony as no one was there to attend to them.