Any Kenyan nurse who wants to work abroad will have to migrate through the government. This has been stated by the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe. Speaking after the United Kingdom stopped the migration of Kenyan nurses to UK, Kagwe said that any nurse who wishes to move abroad will need the government’s permission. In addition, Kagwe said that recruitment agencies will no longer be allowed to take nurses abroad.
Kagwe also said that the Kenya UK nurse migration agreement had not been stopped. He said that what had been halted was the recruitment of Kenyan nurses by agencies.
“This is to protect the country from agencies who want to destabilise our health system by poaching nurses who are not supposed to leave the country,” said CS Kagwe.
He claimed that recruitment agencies have been ferrying nurses who are already in employment abroad, leaving massive gaps in local hospitals.
“What the agencies do, they recruit nurses who are already working in various facilities in the country, even the specialists. This is definitely affecting our health system and Kenyans are left to suffer,” he said. “What we are saying, if any special nurse has to leave the country, then it has to be through the blessings of the government and since we cannot employ all the nurses, we are always happy to release those without a job.”
Kenyans applying for jobs won’t need KRA, CRB, EACC, DCI clearance
The United Kingdom had on Friday announced the halting of recruitment of Kenyan medics in England. The Department of Health and Social Care (NHS), however, said already-sealed contracts between the UK and Kenyan medics can, however, be formalized. “If employers have already given conditional offers to nurses or other health or social care personnel from Kenya on, or prior to Thursday 11 November 2021, the recruitment process can continue,” the NHS said.