With Kenya signing labour agreements with foreign nations, there has been an increasing concern of senior nurses seeking green pastures abroad.
Every year, thousands of healthcare workers emigrate to the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and other regions across the world.
In 2021, Kenya signed one of the largest labour agreements with the United Kingdom which paved the way for 20,000 nurses to relocate to UK hospitals.
Additionally, Kenya in January 2024, signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the relocation of 2,500 nurses.
International Migration from Kenya further estimates that over 160,000 Kenyans are working legally in the United States with most of them in the healthcare sector.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke Alfred Obengo, Former President of the National Nurses Association of Kenya stated that the global labour movement was inevitable.
Obengo explained that due to advancements in technology, there was increased sharing of information and that senior nurses were getting to know that there are better opportunities outside Kenya.
“They share about challenges, opportunities and better working conditions. The main thing that is motivating them is better working conditions,” he explained.
The former nurse association president regretted that this had led to Kenya losing some of its best nurses.
“These are well-experienced nurses with a wealth of knowledge. They are competent and specialists in different health fields,” Obengo stated remarking that the nurses were in high demand abroad.
He explained that this was a skills drain as Kenya was losing valuable skills to counterparts overseas.
Obengo remarked that many senior nurses were not appreciated by county and national governments hence their decision to move abroad.
In his view, both tiers of the government should stop looking at healthcare professionals as people who want to cause trouble but be seen as assets.
As such, the Kenyan government should engage healthcare workers as partners but not as people on the other side that they can collaborate with.
“The govt is always reacting not responding to the issue of the day. We need a long-term human resource plan,” he explained on how to tame the migration of healthcare workers.
Obengo explained that this would help in mapping out the quantity and quality of healthcare professionals Kenya needs currently and in posterity.
“Otherwise we are going to leave our families to a healthcare workforce that is very incompetent,” he sighed.
