A healthcare worker who spent five years battling harsh conditions to save lives in Turkana County passed away on Monday after suffering a stroke and a cardiac arrest.
Thirty-two-year-old Saqib Ekal, a community health assistant, was first hired to take care of Covid-19 patients in 2020.
His death happened just hours before he was scheduled to join fellow Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers for protests to demand the benefits that they were promised five years ago.
Ekal becomes the 47th UHC medic to die in five years of service, according to Desmond Wafula, the national chair of the 8,571 health care workers that the government recruited in 2020 at the height of Covid-19.
"He died at 2am last evening, according to the doctors who attended to him. He suffered a stroke then a cardiac arrest," Mr Wafula told the Nation on Monday.
He described Ekal as a dedicated, passionate and resilient servant of public health who devoted his life to saving lives, especially the elderly, women and children in Turkana.
Ekal was among the 17 different medical cadres hired by the Ministry of Health with a promise of permanent and pensionable terms as well as gratuity —a commitment that remains unfulfilled across all 47 counties where the frontline workers were deployed.
Universal Health Coverage medics protest along Harambe Avenue Nairobi on May 27, 2025 to demand better terms of employment.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
"He was preparing to join other UHC medics for the Tuesday and Wednesday planned protests because over the last five years, like many of us, he has endured so much suffering that culminated into endless stress and depression," Mr Wafula said.
Ekal's death is a reminder that heroes who risked everything to save lives continue paying the ultimate price.
“Mr Ekal is my best friend. He has been working in Ngitakito Dispensary in Turkana County for the last five years under what I can best describe as a discriminative and punitive contract we signed with the national government which lured us with flowery promises. That amounted to nothing but death, despair, hopelessness and depression,” Hesborn Okachi, his best friend told the Nation .
Okachi, who is also a UHC medic, ensured that his friend was given a befitting send off yesterday. He was buried according to Muslim rites.
“Being a medic in Turkana is not a walk in the park. The Ministry of Health has been paying us as little as Sh30,000 and after all the deductions including housing levy, you are left with nothing and can’t even afford food for yourself, let alone a wife and two kids,” he said, adding that it is why he was planning to travel with Ekal to Nairobi for the protests.
“Saqib was being paid Sh30,000 per month with no allowance. He has a family struggling with the harsh climate in Turkana, insecurity, no water and transport issues. To add insult to injury, there is discrimination of UHC staffers from fellow health care workers, and if any advertisement or promotion from the county public service board comes up, those employed under UHC contracts cannot be shortlisted due to discrimination and isolation,” he further told the Nation .
“What the Ministry of Health has done to us over the past five years is so inhuman. Like my late friend, we have been subjected to a lot of suffering and psychological torture that has resulted in the death of 46 of us with many taking their own lives due to depression brought about by empty promises and rhetoric,” he noted, adding that Ekal becomes the 47th fallen UHC hero since 2020.
The national chair of health care workers, Wafula said: “We’ve had enough and won’t resume work until employment terms and gratuity are fully sorted.”
He reminded Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale of the laws that the Ministry of Health has contravened against UHC medics.
“Article 41 of the Constitution of Kenya states that we are entitled to constitutional privileges of fair labour practices; this being a Human Right. The article stipulates that; (1) every person has a right to fair Labour practices (2) Every worker has the right to – (a) to fair remuneration,” he highlighted while also explaining that they have suffered unfair remuneration as their remuneration has not followed the principle of “equal work equal pay.
“This is not only unfair but discriminatory in nature and goes against the doctrine of fair labour practices ordained in article 41 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 as well as the Employment Act No. 11 of (2007, Laws of Kenya on fair labour practice and discrimination,” Mr Wafula noted.
The Deputy Director of the Community Health Service, Eliud Loperito, Ministry of Health focal person for Turkana Central Mercy Kawira, urged Ekal’s colleagues to support his family.
