Health services in Migori County have been thrown into turmoil after nurses and clinical officers downed their tools, leaving patients stranded outside hospitals and forcing already vulnerable families into a desperate search for medical care.

At the Migori County Referral Hospital, pregnant women, elderly patients, and mothers with sick children have been left waiting helplessly outside health facilities as the strike by the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) takes full effect.

The industrial action has severely disrupted essential medical services, forcing patients who depend entirely on public healthcare to seek alternatives,including costly private facilities that many simply cannot afford.

The two unions maintain that the dispute extends far beyond delayed salaries, pointing to what they describe as years of unfulfilled agreements, stalled career progression, unpaid allowances, and repeated failures to remit statutory deductions.

Nurses Demand Permanent Employment and Implementation of Agreements

Permanent and pensionable

For nurses, one of the central sticking points is the continued employment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) contract workers without absorption into Permanent and Pensionable terms.

Additionally, the union is demanding the full implementation of the 2017 Return-to-Work Formula and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), alongside long-overdue promotions for nurses who have remained stagnant in the same job groups for years.

KNUN Migori secretary Ezekiel Dira stated that nurses could no longer continue providing care while their own employment security and financial welfare remained unaddressed.

“Our nurses have sacrificed on UHC contracts for years with empty promises of permanent employment,” Ezekiel stated 

The official emphasized that nurses would remain away from their workstations until all outstanding issues were fully resolved.

SHA and Risk Allowances

Clinical officers, meanwhile, contend that their grievances center on how the Social Health Authority system penalizes healthcare workers whenever county salaries face delays.

KUCO Migori Branch Chairperson Collins Mwanga explained that health workers and their dependants routinely lose access to medical coverage when salaries are not disbursed on time.

He noted that unpaid July and August salaries had compounded the crisis, arguing that clearing salary arrears alone would not satisfy the union’s demand for a stable, comprehensive healthcare cover for its members.

 “Pay is what we are owed for work already done,” Mwanga said, adding that the union wants the issue of comprehensive medical cover resolved.

KUCO Secretary Maureen Maramba noted that the union had issued a formal strike notice in July, fully expecting their outstanding health risk allowance arrears to be cleared in August.

She expressed frustration that the allowance had still not been reflected despite explicit prior commitments from county officials.

Maramba further questioned the logic of statutory deductions being pulled from workers’ wages when those same employees are left unable to access adequate healthcare when sick.

Career progression

The clinical officers are also demanding the complete execution of career progression guidelines, which they argue have only been partially implemented since June 2025.

According to KUCO officials, several workers were placed in incorrect job groups following recent promotions, fueling widespread dissatisfaction across the county’s health workforce.

The union demands that the county government fully honor the agreed career guidelines and provide an alternative comprehensive medical scheme for health workers left stranded by SHA access limitations.

KUCO Vice Secretary Dennis Chacha accused county authorities of routinely failing to honor agreements struck during joint negotiations with union representatives.

 “We agree on solutions, but when it comes to implementation, nothing is done,” Chacha said.

He affirmed that union members would not return to work until every agreed-upon measure was implemented on the ground.

Message to Governor Ayacko

KUCO Assistant Treasurer Lengas Mourice made a direct appeal to Migori Governor Ochilo Ayacko to intervene personally and end the impasse.

Mourice pointed out the bitter irony of health workers suffering to get the very services they routinely provide to the public.

 “Imagine offering healthcare services that you yourself cannot access when sick,” Mourice said.

He urged the governor to take charge and ensure that all pending agreements regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement and career progression guidelines are fully implemented.

The ongoing strike has placed thousands of patients at immediate risk of prolonged delays in accessing essential public healthcare, particularly those with no financial means outside of county hospitals.

With both nurses and clinical officers maintaining a complete boycott of duty, the tense standoff between the trade unions and the county administration leaves vulnerable patients caught in the middle.

For mothers arriving with ailing children, expectant women seeking maternity care, and elderly patients requiring routine treatment, the deserted wards and quiet corridors have turned standard hospital visits into an agonizing wait for relief.