Hospitals in Kenya have taken a hit as the pandemic has reduced revenues. As a result, the institutions are now cutting staff salaries and sending employees on unpaid leave to cut costs. Staff at Mater Hospital will take pay cuts for the next four months after COVID-19 affected the institution’s operations.
“…all staff will, unfortunately, take a pay cut in June, July, August, and September in a graduated scale according to their pay,” read a memo from Mater CEO Dominic Mwenja.
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Similarly, hospitals are sending some of their staff on unpaid leave to achieve optimum capacity as patient numbers dwindle. Professor Mwenja revealed that the hospital will send a considerable number of its staff on unpaid leave, with a 50% graduated salary.
“…since patient numbers have reduced drastically, we will remain at an optimal operational level. This means that we will send several staff on unpaid leave but cushion them with 50% of the newly graduated salary,” Mwenja added.
Other hospitals in Kenya also face shrinking revenues and therefore took measures to cut costs. Standard Reports that Aga Khan University Hospital earlier communicated pay cut plans to its staff. Similarly, MP Shah will enforce pay cuts of varying percentages starting this month. However, Nairobi Hospital revised its working hours upwards, from 40 hours to 45 hours a week.
