Kenya health workers: "Strike will go on"

Twenty-five-thousand Kenyan health workers say they will remain on strike for better pay despite already having been fired by the government. The workers said they would continue their weeklong strike until the government offered more money, the Daily Nation said. Kenyan officials said the striking nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and other health workers employed by the government will be replaced by others, including unemployed and retired health workers, Britain's Guardian reported. The Daily Nation reported that government spokesman Alfred Mutua said names of those striking had been removed from the payroll Thursday and they would soon receive dismissal letters for not heeding a government directive to return to work. "The government has taken this firm action to alleviate further suffering of innocent Kenyans," Mutua said. "It is wrong, regardless of any disagreement, for a health professional to abscond duty and lead to loss of life or suffering. The government and indeed the people of Kenya will not tolerate this." On Thursday, the Daily Nation reported, a mother and her newborn son bled to death outside a dispensary in Kwale County on the Indian Ocean coast after health workers refused to treat them. Fred Omiya, Kenya Health Professionals Society coordinator, criticized the health workers' firings. "The sacking is just like when a patient comes to your hospital and you turn him/her away instead of diagnosing the disease, which will worsen in a few days," Omiya said.