Allan Kisia And Jane Akinyi
7 May 2008
Nairobi — Senior officials from the Ministry of Medical Services will on Wednesday meet with nurses to resolve the pay dispute.
The meeting was convened after nurses threatened to go on strike next month to demand better pay and working conditions.
The Kenya Progressive Nurses Association (KPNA) said on Tuesday it hoped the meeting would address their grievances.
"Nurses will, however, not accept anything short of what they are demanding," Mr Jophinus Musundi, KPNA's Secretary General told The Standard.
Medical Services minister, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, is expected to attend the meeting.
Last week, nurses vowed to down their tools if the Government failed to respond to their grievances. KPNA has issued the Government with a 28-day strike notice.
KPNA draws membership from public and private hospitals, parastatals and NGOs.
Nurses are demanding for Sh20,000 risk allowance, Sh20,000 commuter allowance and Sh40,000 non-practice allowance.
The nurses said they had reminded the Government of their needs since 2005, but it had failed to address them.
Meanwhile, the rate of people suffering from a rare cancer in Nyanza Province is rising.
Dr Juliana Otieno, the medical superintendent, Nyanza Provincial General Hospital, said the number of patients suffering from Burkitts Lymphoma (BL) had increased and that the institution treats an average of 80-100 people each year.
"The cases have gone up that we have had to set a date to treat patients every week," she said.
About 63 per cent of jaw deformities reported at the facility turn out to be BL, she said.
The cancer kills 50 per cent of children in developing countries.
The disease, characterised by a swollen upper jaw, becomes a wound if not treated early. It affects mostly children aged about seven.
The victims whose cancer is not detected early, she said, undergo treatment for three months.
Otieno said the drugs for the disease were expensive and rare.
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