Photo: Capital FM

Strike scene.

Services at the Embu Provincial General Hospital were yesterday paralysed after nurses joined the country-wide strike. The nurses are demanding a review of their take home salary.

Most of the outpatients were not attended to. Many of the outpatient department's services are done by nurses. The services includes taking patients blood pressure at the outpatient wing and dispensing of drugs.

Clinical officers and doctors were overwhelmed by the huge numbers of the patients and many of them went back home without treatment.

Gerald Nderitu, the hospital's boss spent the day meeting the management team to find ways of dealing with the crisis. The hospital's management led by the Hospital Medical Superitendent Dr spent the day in a meeting deliberating on the crisis caused by the strike and how to handle it.

Sources at the hospital said the meeting was looking into ways of ensuring that inpatients particularly would be taken care of to ensure

they don't suffer owing to the strike.

The meeting allegedly looked into ways of maximizing the services of doctors and the clinical officers and other casual workers to ensure that the out patients and inpatients are served to their satisfaction despite the strike.

When called for comments Dr Nderitu confirmed that the nurses at the hospital had joined their colleagues in other parts of the country in the country wide strike.

He however declined to discuss on the matter further noting that he was in a meeting and thus he would not get time until later in the

day. The Kenya National Union of Nurses resolved that nurses should down their tools after the government failed to dialogue with them.

The Union's chairman Jophinus Musundi said that the nurses have resolved to down their tools after the government failed to dialogue

with them.