Health services in Nairobi are likely to be disrupted starting Tuesday should health workers make good their threat to down their tools.

They include nurses, clinical officers, laboratory officers, public health officers and pharmaceutical technologists.

This is after the 14-day strike notice issued by the unions on February 15 expired on Monday.

The leaders say despite the notice, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services has failed to reach out and offer an amicable solution.

The unions have accused NMS of failing to promote their members to their rightful job groups, with some having served in the same group for close to 10 years.

The also lamented that members on probation and contractual terms are yet to be confirmed as permanent and pensionable.

“We cannot continue suffering at the expense of cat and mouse games. We have no problem with construction of hospitals," Kenya Health Professionals Society Secretary general Brown Ashira said.

"[But] you can’t built hospitals and fail to motivate an employee who is working there.”

Kenya National Union of Nurses Nairobi secretary general Boaz Onchari said last year, Nairobi county re-designated and sorted issues of stagnation.

However, employees who were not seconded to NMS and those seconded are yet to benefit.

“While we could wish to ensure uninterrupted service delivery to the people, we have been taken for granted for too long,” Onchari said.

“We have given NMS ample time to settle our grievances. which ranged from promotions, re-designations, confirmations, stagnations, delayed payment of salaries and the issues of secondment," he said.

"We have tried to engage in good faith but NMS have shown us that our issues matter less."

The NMS director for Health could not be reached for comment on the matter.

However, the unions say despite their outcry to have their issues addressed, in the last financial year, NMS returned Sh538 million meant for promotions of health workers to the national treasury.

In September last year, NMS Health Services director Dr Ouma Oluga said they spent Sh600 million on promotions, Sh700 million on health cover and Sh1.7 billion on new staff in a bid to curb rampant strikes.

In an interview with the Star, Oluga explained that for the county to have a proper functioning healthcare system, issues affecting health workers needed to be addressed first.

“If you look back, hesitancy to promote health workers across different cadres was the core reason why health workers in Nairobi were going on strike.

"As NMS we made sure that those who deserve promotion get it,” he said. - MAGDALINE SAYA, The Star

(Edited by Tabnacha Oduor)

Disabled Burundians no longer need to buy foreign prosthesis that are often very expensive. The Patrick Ngoga foundation manufactures splints, and other orthopaedic support devices.

A revolution is underway for disabled people in Burundi. In this building housing the Patrick Ngoga foundation, anyone can find crutches, splints, prosthesis and other orthopaedic support devices.

Founder Mr Ngoga suffered an accident during his childhood that impacted his sciatic nerve and left him handicapped.

After three years spent in Japan to study prosthetics and Orthotics, he is back in Burundi. His goal is to help fellow disabled citizens: "Before I completed my training, we had to go abroad to find prosthesis. Nowadays, we don’t need to travel to find affordable ones any more. Many people need prosthesis. Today, prosthetic feet are manufactured in Burundi and patients can buy them at lower prices."

It is fitting day for Chartier Bimenyimana. The man suffered a car accident. He is one of the many people who’ve had their lives transformed by the work of the foundation. "I am very happy. For the past four years, I have been walking with crutches and no pants on. Thanks to this, I can start wearing pants again."

On the national level, associations gathering disabled people have witnessed the positive impact of the foundation. Eugene Nsabayezu, the president of the National Paralympic Committee explains: "Most disabled people come from poor families and they cannot afford prosthesis or any orthopaedic support. If you try to estimate a price, it cost about 1 million or 1 million and a half franc. I can testify that the Ngoga Foundation helps hundreds of people to finally get orthopaedic implants that improve their mobility."

Only one rehabilitation center existed before the Patrick Ngoga foundation was launched. The few people who could afford the prosthesis had to pay out some five thousand US dollars.

If the exact number of disabled people in the Southern African country isn’t known, the prostheses made in Burundi have already been life-changing for many. - By Rédaction Africanews with Francine Sinarinzi

KAMPALA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Wednesday announced that it has stopped the mandatory COVID-19 testing of travelers coming into the country.

The Ministry of Health in a statement issued here said the move which takes immediate effect follows a cabinet decision on Feb. 14.

The ministry stressed in the statement, however, that the mandatory testing of 72 hours before boarding for both incoming and exiting travelers remains in effect.

The suspension is based on a decline in positive COVID-19 cases identified at the airport (the country's Entebbe International Airport), said the ministry, noting the other reason is the reduction in the global threat of new variants of concern and therefore reduced risk of importing new variants.

Uganda in October last year started mandatory COVID-19 testing for all incoming travelers in an effort to curb a further importation of the deadly Coronavirus variants into the country.

The Ministry of Health data suggested that tests done on Feb. 14 showed 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 4,010 samples taken.

The country as of Feb. 14 had registered 162,865 positive COVID-19 cases since the country registered the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. - Xinhua