Jobless nurses, and doctors might soon have a reason to smile after the government announced plans to find them jobs abroad.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui disclosed talks have been initiated with a number of countries abroad to absorb qualified idle or underemployed healthcare workers.
Even though the government is looking to place Kenyan professionals abroad, only graduates the government cannot absorb will be considered for such international placement.
The CS said talks and negotiations are ongoing with Belgium, Australia, the US, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union.
If the deals go through, Kenya will sign agreements that clear the way for Kenyan professionals to migrate abroad.
“One key challenge facing the health sector is the fact that our economy is currently not generating enough jobs to absorb all the youth graduating from various health institutions,” Chelugui said on Friday.
“However, while this may be a challenge, the government has also prioritized labour migration of some professional skills to key destination countries as a stop-gap measure to address the challenge associated with the inability of our economy to generate enough jobs,” he added.
About 20,000 nurses are expected to leave for the UK in three years in an agreement signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta during a trip to the UK in July.
The governments of Kenya, the UK, and Northern Ireland signed a bilateral agreement on July 29 for collaboration in the healthcare workforce.
Following reports that a number of nurses expected to secure job opportunities failed, the government in January started the retraining process with the first cohort of 300 nurses beginning training at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi.
Foreign nurses seeking to work in the UK are required to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Occupational English Test (OET), as well as Computer Based Test (CBT).
IELTS is a general English language assessment test that is recognised and accepted across all English-speaking countries while the OET is a language assessment test designed for healthcare professionals.
“The first batch that we are training right now is about over 300 nurses, the problem is not on the other side, they expect us to send thousands of them but they also expect us to send trained people and qualified people,” Kagwe noted.
Chelugui said two adverts placed by the government last year saw a response from more than 5,000 nurses and are undergoing various English and amplitude tests as per the requirement of UK before being processed for travel.
“What we emphasized in that agreement is that we should not cripple our health service, we should not see mass movement from Kenya to UK and therefore is a controlled arrangement so that those who are already engaged would remain in our country to provide the basic services,” Chelugui said.
To pass IELTS, an overall score of seven or above is required for the reading, listening and speaking portions of the exam. A score of 6.5 is required for writing.
Unlike IELTS, the Occupational English Test is scored in grades (A-E). To pass, an overall grade of B or A is required.
In the deal, the nurses will be given three-month free accommodation on arrival for the three-year contract, which is renewable for another three years.
“I know there are Kenyans who think this is engaging in brain drain but global walls and boundaries between countries are breaking and we are now living in a global village. The skills gained will help this country raise the level of service delivery.”
The UK government will also foot air tickets for those departing, and they will be eligible to pay progression, overtime, leave entitlements and they can also relocate their families after a period of three months.
