Nursing is one of the marketable courses in Kenya owing to the high demand for nurses. The professionals are tasked with caring for the sick and injured.
It is estimated that Kenya has 60,000 practicing nurses with approximately 9,500 unemployed. The employed nurses receive varying salaries depending on the job group.
According to the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), nurses will earn their highest salaries ever this year once the government implements the recently signed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
If the CBA is approved, nurses will take home enhanced allowances of more than Sh50,000 every month. This includes the newly enhanced and old allowances.
In addition, under the new agreement, nurses’ risk allowance and uniform allowance will increase by Sh5,000, with further increments expected in subsequent CBAs.
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“We expected to go up to Sh25,000 in subsequent CBAs and also the nursing service allowance to go to Sh30,000 in subsequent CBAs,” Knun Secretary General Seth Panyako said.
Currently, entry nurses are classified in job group G and earn between Sh23,369 and Sh29,826. Nurses in job group K earn a basic salary of Sh40,000 and nurses in job group R earn between Sh109,089 and Sh144,928.
Apart from job groups, nurses are also paid according to their place of work and academic qualifications.
Nurses who work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) earn a basic salary of Sh129,000, with diploma holders earning upwards of Sh70,000.
In addition to their monthly salary, the professionals also receive several allowances, including house allowances of Sh3,500-Sh15,000, extraneous expenses of Sh15,000-Sh35,000 depending on the job group, and a health risk allowance of Sh3,850-Sh5,000.
Others are a uniform allowance of Sh10,000 annually and a commuter allowance of Sh4,000-Sh14,000.
