Clinical officers petition Senate over discrimination, delayed posting of interns
KUCO General Secretary George Gibore and National Chairman Peterson Wachira urged the Senate to investigate the alleged breach of the return to work agreement, failure to implement approved career guidelines, and ongoing delays in the posting of clinical officers for internship.
Clinical officers have petitioned the Senate to intervene in what they describe as continued discrimination, unfair labour practices, and violation of a return to work agreement by the Ministry of Health, the Social Health Authority (SHA), and County Governments.
In a petition presented by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) leadership accused the Ministry of Health and the SHA of sidelining clinical officers in critical health policy decisions and denying them equal opportunities within the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme.
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KUCO General Secretary George Gibore and National Chairman Peterson Wachira urged the Senate to investigate the alleged breach of the return to work agreement, failure to implement approved career guidelines, and ongoing delays in the posting of clinical officers for internship.
“There has been a deliberate exclusion of Medical Laboratory Officers from key policy discussion and labour-related decisions affecting their profession,” the petition states.
The petitioners say the situation has created unequal treatment among health professionals and has hurt the quality of service delivery in public hospitals. They are now calling for a Senate inquiry to restore fairness and accountability in the governance of medical laboratory services.
The union wants the SHA board to empanel all registered clinical officers and reinstate their pre-authorisation rights, which they say were taken away shortly after SHA was rolled out. This, they argue, has left thousands of patients suffering from delays and out-of-pocket expenses.
“The SHA board should end discrimination and exclusion of Clinical Officers by empanelling all clinical officers registered by the council and reinstating pre-authorisation rights to the Clinical Officers to alleviate the suffering of Kenyans as resolved by the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors,” reads part of the petition.
They are also pushing for the Ministry of Health to fully implement the return to work deal reached with the union, harmonise internship payments, and convert all UHC contract jobs to permanent and pensionable terms.
“Our prayer is that the Senate inquires into the matter and makes recommendations that for an immediate conversation of the contracts to permanent and pensionable establishments to the UHC staff to abide by the relevant provisions of the law,” the petition continues.
KUCO further decried the Ministry’s failure to engage them directly, saying requests for meetings with top officials have been ignored or redirected to junior staff.
“Repeated attempts to seek audience with the Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Health have been ignored or delegated to Personal Assistants, unlike other health sector unions which receive direct and prompt engagement,” reads the petition.
The union noted that more than 30,000 clinical officers are already registered by the council and are ready to serve if the outlined challenges are resolved.
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