NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 12 – The Ministry of Health and the British High Commission on Friday denied reports suggesting the recruitment of Kenyan nurses in the UK had been stopped.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and British High Commissioner Jane Marriott affirmed in a joint statement that the government-to-government pact remained in place and that government agencies involved had only put in place measures to prevent uncontrolled recruitment.
The two said the mechanisms in place will prevent private companied from abusing the process.
“The recruitment mechanism will continue and has been strengthened in accordance with WHO Code of practice for international recruitment of health and social care personnel in the United Kingdom,” read the statement.
“Moving Kenya from green to amber means international recruitment is only permitted in compliance with the terms of a government-to-government agreement. This will stop private companies taking advantage of the interest generated by the agreement between our two governments, and stops uncontrolled recruitment.”
The statement was issued in response to reports on a section of print media indicating the deal between the two countries had been halted with immediate effect.
The statement further clarified that the number of recruited health workers, however, will be regulated in order to ensure that the recruitment process was fair.
Kagwe and Marriott further revealed that the MoH planned to set up structures at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi to make it a hub for workforce preparation, exams preparation and mocks administration.
“The two governments are setting up structures to ensure Kenyan nurses face the exams well prepared,” the said.
The CS had previously revealed that only 10 out of 200 nurses who took an English proficiency, precondition for the recruitment, passed the exam.
He however reassured Kenyans that the government was working towards enhancing the capacity of nurses in order to strengthen the health care system.
“As a government, we are working hard to increase our home-grown supply of health and social care staff through enhanced training to ensure that we remain a regional force in healthcare,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
Kenya and the UK government signed a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2021 during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s official visit to the European nation. The deal would see Kenya’s health workers absorbed into the National Health Service, the publicly funded British healthcare system.
The agreement came at the request of the government to channel nurses currently unemployed into jobs and was signed by UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Kenya’s Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui.
Under the program to share knowledge and expertise, Kenyan health professionals and health managers would benefit from a special route to work in the UK, before returning to work in Kenya’s health sector.
On his part the UK’s Health Secretary said the new agreement would be beneficial to both countries “with the exchange of knowledge and training which will provide first class healthcare.”
The British High Commission confirmed that already there are 894 Kenyans working in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, making Kenyans the 30th largest nationality group in the NHS.
The President also witnessed the signing of the Kenya-UK Health Alliance, which would bring together UK and Kenyan institutions including universities and teaching hospitals cooperating on health partnerships.
