Health CS Aden Duale. /ADEN DUALE/XKMPDU has commended Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale for what it termed a rare show of leadership in addressing the perennial medical internship crisis by deploying interns with full pay without them having to stage protests.
Speaking in Nairobi, KMPDU Secretary General Dr Davji Atella said the union was impressed by the ministry’s proactive resolution of issues that have historically forced medical practitioners to take to the streets.
“For the first time, interns were posted without any demonstration,” Dr Atella said.
“The issue that was affecting doctors, nurses, and clinical officers — where their salaries were reduced by over 70 per cent — has now been rectified. That must be lauded.”
He added that medical officer interns are now earning the standard Sh208,000, up from Sh206,000, due to inflationary adjustments.
“The same applies to nurses and clinical officers, who are now receiving what is recommended in the schemes of service. That’s because the minister understands his job. The previous ones did not.”
The remarks followed the ministry’s June 27 announcement of the posting of 6,484 healthcare interns across the country for the 2025-26 cohort.
The group includes doctors, nurses, clinical officers, dentists, and pharmacists, who have all been deployed to various facilities for supervised clinical training and service delivery.
In a separate clarification on X, Duale noted that intern doctors’ salaries comprise a basic pay of Sh46,120, with allowances under CSG 9/JG ‘L’ bringing the total monthly package to approximately Sh208,000.
KMPDU’s praise comes amid broader efforts by the Health Ministry to strengthen labour relations and reform the sector.
On July 2, Duale held a high-level meeting with the Kenya Union of Nurses (KNUN) and Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), affirming the government’s commitment to transitioning eligible UHC workers to permanent and pensionable terms.
The Cabinet Secretary stated that funds had already been secured and that a joint verification exercise would be conducted this month by national, county, and union teams.
“This will reconcile payrolls and guide the signing of the Return-to-Work Formula in August,” he said.
Duale also pushed for union support for the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025, which he described as critical to healthcare reform under Vision 2030 and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
With unions applauding the ministry’s new approach, observers say the current handling of medical internships could mark a turning point in the fraught relationship between the government and frontline healthcare workers.
