- The Medical Social Workers Bill, 2024, provides for the establishment of the Medical Social Workers Council to oversee the training.
- The proposed law is sponsored by Endebes MP Robert Pukose, who is the chairman of the National Assembly's Health Committee.
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Social health workers who look after the welfare of patients in hospitals will be registered and trained if a new bill currently in the National Assembly is enacted.
The Medical Social Workers Bill, 2024, provides for the establishment of the Medical Social Workers Council to oversee the training.
“The object and purpose for which the council is established is to exercise supervision and control over the training and practice of medical social work in Kenya,” the bill states.
The proposed law is sponsored by Endebes MP Robert Pukose, who is the chairman of the National Assembly's Health Committee.
The council, which shall be headed by a chairman appointed by Health CS, shall prescribe the minimum educational requirements for persons wishing to be registered as medical social workers.
It will also consider and approve the qualifications of medical social workers for the purpose of registration and license private practice.
Medical social workers educate patients and families about illnesses and treatment plans.
They conduct psychosocial assessments to identify mental or emotional distress and counsel those in crisis or experiencing distress.
Besides the chairman, the council will comprise the director general for health, the chief executive officer of the Kenya Medical Training College and the chairperson of the Kenya Medical Social Workers Association.
Others are three medical social workers nominated by the Kenya Medical Social Workers Association and the registrar of the council.
According to the bill, the Council shall register all the training institutions for medical health workers.
“No person being in charge of a training institution in Kenya shall admit persons for training with a view to qualifying for registration under this Act or conduct a course of training or administer the examination for the purposes of registration,” the bill states.
A person who contravenes the provision commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh1 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.
“The council shall publish a list of the training institutions approved under the Universities Act, 2012 and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training A ct, 2013,” the bill states.
The bill provides that a person eligible to be registered as a medical social worker must be a holder of a qualification recognised by the council.
After obtaining that qualification, the person must engage in internship in medical social work under the supervision of a registered medical social worker for a period of not less than one year, as the Council may approve.
“A person who is the holder of a qualification from an accredited institution outside Kenya shall be eligible for registration under this Act as a medical social worker,” the bill says.
A person whose name has been entered in the register as a registered medical social worker shall , f or as long as his or her name remains in the register, be entitled to adopt and use the style and title prescribed by the council.
“The registrar shall issue a certificate of registration to a person whose name is entered into the register,” the bill says.