Kenyan nurses vow to continue strike despite job threats "The strike is still on," said Luke K'Odambo, chairman of the National Nurses Association of Kenya, adding the sacking did "not make sense in any way," and that it was not possible to dismiss such a large part of the workforce. On Friday morning it appeared few nurses were at work in public hospitals in the capital Nairobi, with similar reports from across the country. It was not immediately clear what proportion of the country's nurses had been fired, but if the job cuts are carried out, the east African nation's public health system will be severely impacted. The strike has crippled public hospitals, with patients sometimes being sent home untreated. Kenyans who can afford it go to private clinics, which are for the most part operating normally. Public opinion appears divided on the strike, with angry reports in newspapers that patients had died due to a lack of medical care. "The government has continued to bury its head in the sand, routinely denying that the strike has claimed lives," an editorial in the Daily Nation newspaper read, warning of "brewing disaster." The row has raged on for too long, the whole matter has been badly handled by both the government and the workers.