The health union sector under the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) has listed 30 reasons as to why they are rejecting the government's recent plan to merge their regulatory bodies.
The Ministry of Health proposed the Quality of Care Bill 2025, which seeks to defund and merge various health associations and unions into a single regulatory body, among other reforms that the unions have described as detrimental to the healthcare system.
In a joint statement dated Friday, February 28, they listed 30 reasons why they are rejecting the move, explaining that the current plan works perfectly for them.
"We, the officials and representatives of the health sector unions and associations under the Health Sector Caucus, reaffirm our position against the proposal to merge regulatory bodies and inform that peer regulations are currently the best standard since the regulator has a deeper understanding of the practitioners and institutions they regulate," read part of the statement.
Among the reasons why they are opposing the move include bureaucracy inefficiency, regulatory overlap, diluted standards, burden on small practices, potential for political influences, reduced professional trust, lack of industry-specific expertise, increased training burden, ineffective crisis management, and lack of professional representation.
Others are conflicting interests, increased compliance cost, resistance to innovation, inconsistencies in enforcement, lack of flexibility, complex licensing requirements, reduced efficiencies in addressing malpractices, potential for regulatory capture, limited international competitiveness, and potential duplication of research and policies.
While the clinical officers acknowledge that, at some point, the merger may have some merits, it presents numerous challenges and drawbacks.
They cited lack of clear accountability, delayed decision-making, unnecessary legal complexities, reduced professional autonomy, overlapping jurisdictions, unnecessary red tape, confusion among consumers, complicated appeals processes, inconsistent ethical standards, and undermining of professionalism as more reasons for their rejection.
The unions argue that the government has not shared any documentation, and we'll research the problem statement on the Kenya Health Professionals Oversight Authority (KHPOA), the current regulatory body, which begs the question regarding the motivation for the growing push for the merger.
They argue that some of those professions whose regulations have previously merged with other regulatory bodies like the Community Oral Health Officers, Dental Technicians, and Pharmaceutical Technology have suffered major drawbacks to the extent that they are now pushing for self-regulation.
They are demanding that the existing health regulatory bodies in the country with Acts of Parliament should be maintained and strengthened, while all the remaining unregulated care should be accorded an opportunity to decide whether to be included in the existing regulatory bodies.
Meanwhile, the 14-day ultimatum the unions issued to the ministry is fast fading away, with barely five days left for them to down their tools. They demanded that the ministry iron out their issues, including SHA and the absorption of UHC staff, among other issues.
