New nurses to earn Sh30,000 monthly

 

PHOTO | GIDEON MAUNDU Nurses in Mombasa County chant slogans outside the Coast General Hospital on December 20, 2012. New nurses to be recruited in constituencies will earn a monthly salary of Sh30,000, a new government document shows.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By NATION CORRESPONDENT

In Summary

• The government also plans to buy new equipment for public hospitals.

New nurses to be recruited in constituencies will earn a monthly salary of Sh30,000, a new government document shows.

According to the report prepared by State House, the government has allocated Sh3.8 billion to recruit more than 10,000 nurses to ease a shortage of staff in health centres.

The salaries for workers are much higher than the Sh20,000 paid to nurses who had initially been recruited at the constituency level under the Economic Stimulus Programme.

Other “health workers” to be recruited at the constituency level will be paid a salary of Sh15,000 per month.

According to the document, ‘We are on Track’, Sh1.2 billion has been set aside for building 1,500 prefabricated staff houses for health workers.

The government also plans to buy new equipment for public hospitals.

At the same time, the document says the government intends to establish 200 prefabricated health centres in slums at a cost of Sh1.2 billion.

The proposal was contained in the budget statement presented by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.

According to a memorandum by the Union of Kenya Civil Servants last month, nurses employed under the Economic Stimulus Programme were being laid off without any regard to dismissal procedures stipulated in the Employment Act (2007).

Those still in employment are underpaid, the union said.