Approximately 40,900 registered health workers are not practising in the country, a trend the government is trying to reverse.
Some of these workers are jobless, some have left the country while others have taken up different professions or informal jobs after medical training.
The Ministry of Health presented the figures at the just-ended Kenya Health Summit to show the challenges Kenya faces in its journey toward Universal Health Coverage.
Kenya has 106,000 registered health workers but only 37,502 are employed by the national and county governments.
The report shows that the remaining 27,609 are in private practice.
"Kenya, therefore, has a health worker to population ratio of 16.5:10,000 against WHO’s recommended 23:10,000," the report reads.
The workers in question are doctors, nurses and clinical officers.
However, health officials who spoke at the summit said the shortage is less alarming because at least 42,000 students are undergoing training.
The government said it would review the current incentives to retain staff.
But clinical officers urged MPs to allocate more funds to hire extra workers.
Of the 19,000 registered clinical officers in Kenya, only 6,000 are in the public sector, with 5,312 in private practice. Another 7,114 have emigrated, are jobless or working in an unrelated field.
"It’s the role of the Executive and MPs to allocate budget to different sectors. The Ministry of Health should advise the Treasury and Parliament on the adequate financing," Kenya Union of Clinical Officers chairman Peterson Wachira said.
Health PS Susan Mochache said critical areas such as staffing, financing, public-private partnerships and health data information use will be reviewed for the success of UHC.
She said there was a need for all stakeholders to deliberate on the issues affecting UHC and propose changes in policy and legislation.
Council of Governors CEO Jackline Mogeni reiterated the need for counties to invest in primary healthcare and community health workers especially as the county grapples with the cancer burden.
“Devolution is a journey. In some counties it is slow but we shall surely get there,” Mogeni said.
In the UHC national rollout, the government further said it targets 100 per cent health insurance coverage from the current 20 per cent.
Only nine million out of about 45 million Kenyans are covered, about 88 per cent of them with the National Hospital Insurance Fund.
The government said it also targets a 50 per cent reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure on health services by individual Kenyans.
According to the 2016 Kenya Health Accounts, out-of-pocket spending covers 31 per cent of Kenya's total health expenditure, 40 per cent by government funding, 23 per cent donor funding and six per cent private.
Edited by R.Wamochie
