The tussle between the nurses union, Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) and Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) over the implementation of the new Health Act might derail services in various health care centres. The disagreement between doctors and nurses concerning the contents of the Act might soon lead to the strike of nurses across the country like have been seen in the past.
This would subsequently leave patients stranded in many hospitals and even loss of lives in these hospitals due to lack of adequate health services. In the real sense, the contents of the Health Act are discriminative and those which seek to favour doctors while discriminating nurses who are also stakeholders in the health sector. The result is obvious, nurses striking and the impact of it won’t be fair to most Kenyans as it will affect quality and affordability of health care for many citizens.
The nurses went to court last week to try to stop the implementation of the Health Act, a matter that is still pending in court. In the first place, the nurses were not involved in the drafting of the new rules, therefore, there was no way they could have been meant to address their issues.
Some sections of the Act seeks to limit the chances of nurses and other health professionals from holding offices they have previously held and restricting them to doctors. For instance, there is a provision that creates the office of the director general for health but limits the qualifications to be a medical practitioner registered by the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board.
This would be discriminatory given that there are nurses with many years of experience and higher education in the provision of health care but are restricted from holding such posts. Another post that requires registration by KMPDB is the Counter Director of Health.
Therefore, there is a need for the Health Act to be declared unconstitutional by the court. The court should hence stop implementation of the Health Act since it will lead to termination of the contracts of nurses holding those senior positions thereby replacing them with doctors.
“The new laws are unconstitutional to the extent that they limit the right of nurses and other professionals in the human health field from holding top positions they have previously held and restricting them to doctors,” said Charles Wabwora, a lawyer.
Stopping the implementation of the new Health Act is the best way to prevent any health crisis in the country and as well averting any loss of deaths in case of any strike by nurses who feel discriminated by doctors.
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