Community health volunteers to benefit if talks on paycheck bear fruits
Dr Khadija Shikely engaging members of the public at Tononoka Social hall on Wednesday April 24, 2019
BY PETER KOMBE
Community health volunteers (CHVs) are set to benefit if discussion underway at the national level on modalities to factor them in the county government payroll bear fruits.
Mombasa County chief health officer Dr Khadija Shirkely, speaking to journalists recently, says the county is working round the clock to ensure its 1,600 CHV receive monthly salaries.
“Our CHV are duly registered for National Social Security Fund and they are doing a good job that we cannot overlook as discussions at the national level to get a monthly pay are ongoing,” she says adding that it is high time they received a monthly pay.
According to her Siaya County has set the pace for the rest of the counties although she cites financial challenges faced by the county governments.
Mombasa county executive committee member finance Mariam Mbaruk appreciated the role community health volunteers’ play in the health sector saying the county government is working out on strategies to cushion them.
“We are working out on modalities to cushion in CHVs as they are really doing a wonderful job in our health sector,” she said
The CEC, however, says that before they are factored in the county government payroll their job group should be identified by the Public Service Board.
LOOPHOLES SEALED
She claims her finance department has sealed all the loopholes in revenue collection and hoped it will boost their annual intake compared to other fiscal years’ collection on the same.
Asked on the Tononoka stadium, Ms Mbaruk said plans are in the pipeline to rehabilitate it to both national and international standards.
However, the Reach out Centre Trust executive director Taib Abdulrahman decried limited resources to combat the drugs menace and appealed to the county to allocate more resources to drug users’ programme.
“We have very little resources to fight drugs menace and this is affecting our efforts to eradicate the menace that is taking toll of our youths who are the future of not only this county but also the country at large,” he said.
The activist argues that there is a need for the county to streamline its communication mechanism and involve the citizens on its public oriented programmes or projects.
He urged the county government to pump in more funds for the rehabilitation of the Tononoka stadium saying it is the only historical stadium that has nurtured talents in the region.
“We want the county government to build the stadium to higher standards. This is the only stadium that we have relied on for so long,” he said.
