By Isaiah Bikhal
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has faulted the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) for denying health professional Covid-19 emergency allowances.
The union says medical dons in teaching and referral hospitals were not benefiting from the Covid-19 Emergency Allowance kitty despite the crucial role they play.
In a memorandum to the Senate, UASU Secretary General Dr. Constantine Wasonga said that it was baffling that SRC omitted frontline health workers in its latest advisory on Medical Emergency Allowance dated 28th April 2020.
He said medics were denied the money, despite the fact that the Health Ministry had requested for staff from universities to assist in COVID 19 response.
The UASU Boss urged SRC to include frontline health care staff in public universities.
The Ministry of Health requested the Ministry of Education’s, State Department for University Education and Research to provide staff to assist fighting the global pandemic.
They asked for epidemiologists, public health officers and statisticians, medical officers, nurses, laboratory personnel and scientists, psychologists, counselors, experts in IT, statistics and health information experts, sociologists and social workers
In a correspondence signed by Ambassador Simon Nabukwesi dated 21st April, the Principal Secretary requested all Vice Chancellors of Public Universities and all Principals of University Constituent Colleges to second health workers assist in the ongoing efforts to manage Covid-19.
Seconded staffs were expected to serve for the period of Covid-19 response in health systems, case management and contract tracing, psychological support, data management and social support.
Dr. Wasonga applauded members of academia for their innovations in providing protective equipment, manufacture of respiratory ventilators, and clinical trials of treatments.
“The clinical faculties have provided frontline services including virologists, infectious disease specialists, critical care doctors, public health experts, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, laboratory scientists among others,” said Wasonga.
Medical experts from University of Nairobi (UoN) led by Dr. Loyce Achieng Ombajo, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Medicine and head of infectious disease unit at Kenyatta National Hospital, are set to conduct trials to determine if the three drugs namely: Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, and Lopinavir/ritonavir can effectively treat Covid-19 patients in Kenya.
Another UoN team led by Prof. Omu Wanzala, a virologist and immunologist, from the KAVI Institute of Clinical Research (KAVI-ICR) based at the College of Health Sciences is working on a possible Covid-19 vaccine.
Other members of team are Dr. Moses Masika-virologist, Dr. Loyce Achieng Ombajo-infectious disease specialist and Dr. Marybeth Maritim-infectious disease specialist.
KAVI-ICR has carried out more than 15 vaccine clinical trials and researches since its inception in 1998.
Members of academia from engineering departments through an interdisciplinary approach have also mentored students in innovations as the manifest ventilator prototype developed by a group of 16 students from Kenyatta University’s engineering, pharmacy, medicine and nursing schools.
They were guided by the Dean Engineering School Dr. Shadrack Mambo and Prof Nicholas Gikonyo, the chairman of the Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation Centre, where the project is housed.
Medical researchers had earlier engaged the SRC and Ministries of Health and Education over the non-payment of clinical allowances.
The matter was resolved in the current 2019/2020 financial year after SRC approved payment of clinical allowances for over 600 medicine lecturers.
Last month, the engineering department at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) unveiled two portable solar powered ventilators that use a 12 V battery, a contact tracing application, a digital system that predicts COVID 19 infection trends in Kenya and an automatic solar powered hand powered machine.
