CS Duale Flags Off Nursing Interns, Vows to Clean Up Health Workforce System
𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢, 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 — Health Cabinet Secretary Hon. Aden Duale presided over the flag-off ceremony for 316 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) interns at Afya House, Nairobi, marking a critical step in restoring order following recent posting irregularities.
The reinstated interns had been wrongly omitted from the initial list of 6,484 interns deployed on , 2025. Their letters had been withheld due to errors discovered during an audit, which also uncovered the wrongful posting of 348 unqualified candidates.
“We are here to correct a mistake. These 316 interns were eligible and ready. , we reaffirm our commitment to fairness, transparency, and accountability,” said CS Duale.
The Cabinet Secretary revealed that over 1,000 health facilities have been closed and 400 downgraded, citing workforce shortages, poor deployment, and governance failures as key contributing factors. He emphasized that reforms in the health human resource system are non-negotiable.
“We cannot fix healthcare in Kenya when health workers are demoralized. You can’t talk about Universal Health Coverage when patients are still sleeping on the floor and facilities lack basic staff. For the President’s agenda to succeed, healthcare workers must be happy, supported, and properly posted.”
CS Duale confirmed that the CEO of the Nursing Council of Kenya has been suspended, and the Ministry is initiating far-reaching reforms to clean up the Council and digitize the entire internship and deployment system.
“We are reforming the Nursing Council. We are reforming the HR system. And we are digitizing internship management to remove manual errors and eliminate gatekeeping once and for all,” he said.
He acknowledged the distress caused to affected interns whose offers were revoked after it was found they had not yet graduated. However, he assured them they would be prioritized in the next cycle once they meet eligibility requirements.
To the 316 newly posted interns, who report to their facilities on , 2025, CS Duale offered a word of encouragement:
“Serve with integrity. Serve with humility. You are the future of our healthcare system.”
The Ministry has pledged to enhance coordination with regulatory bodies and training institutions to avoid a recurrence of such lapses and to restore public trust in the deployment process.