More than eighty patients escaped from a Kenyan hospital on Monday because doctors and nurses went on strike and refused to go back to work. Based on the recent reports, the patients are wearing their standard uniforms, so they are easily distinguishable.
The witnesses said that the patients climbed over the walls of the Mathari Hospital and headed towards one of the busiest highways in Kenya. They were left unsupervised because the nurses went on strike.
Some Patients From The Kenyan Hospital Haven’t Been Found
The health workers want to receive higher wages, or they will continue the protests. According to Julius Ogato, the Kenyan hospital’s medical superintendent, the patients split in multiple directions because no one guided them.
Although the authorities have been trying to find the sick people, over fifty are missing. The officials from the Kenyan hospital refused to disclose the illnesses. Authorities and the public health officials are worried that the patients might represent a threat to the residents.
However, Ogato explains that they are more dangerous to themselves. He further adds that if the escapees are found on private property, the owners might think they are burglars. The patients blocked the traffic on the Thika Highway on Monday as they were running between cars.
The investigators are not sure yet whether the patients received medicine and food on the day they escaped from the Kenyan hospital. In the meantime, the nurses haven’t come back to work. The hospital officials have joined their efforts with the police and the deputy county commissioner to find all escapees.
Doctors and Nurses are Badly Paid
Based on the estimates, Kenyan doctors earn just $400 per month, whereas Kenyan nurses earn $150. Worse, most of them have confessed that they work in terrible conditions. Thousands of nurses and doctors started marching on Monday in front of the Kenyan finance ministry.
They are demanding the 300-percent wage raise, which the government officials promised to provide in 2013. They are also accused of using this the country’s money for themselves instead of funding the Kenyan medical system.
Public health officials stress that licensed doctors make less than rookie police officers. The health workers made a public announcement that the country will suffer a long strike if the government officials do not agree to their demands.
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