A male security guard helped a woman deliver at the Bungoma County Referral Hospital on Monday as medics commenced their strike.
Rosebela Marani, 32, was stranded upon arriving at the hospital as there was no one to help her deliver.
The guard, Benson Wanyonyi, who was manning the gate when Marani arrived with labour pains, had to step in to assist the woman.
“I was at the main entrance when the woman was brought on a motorcycle. She soon discovered the workers were on strike and was contemplating rushing to a nearby private facility but she was overwhelmed. I ran to the outpatient department and got some gloves and assisted her. The baby boy is in a stable condition,” Wanyonyi told Standard.
Onlookers were shocked by the watchman’s swift action, since he lacks medical experience.
Nurses and doctors have downed their tools countrywide after serving the government with a 21-day strike notice on November 14, 2016.
They want the government to implement a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) they signed in June 2013.
They are pushing for review of job groups, promotions, deployment and transfer of medical officers, as well as remuneration, according to the inked CBA.
The medics want the government to employ 1,200 more staff to address the poor doctor-patient ratio.
Currently, the ratio is at 1:16,000.