Nurses in the country will no longer be required to travel to South Africa or India to sit their national council licensure examination.
This is after the Pearson Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) Test centre was opened in Nairobi on Tuesday.
The centre is the second in Africa after South Africa for certifying and licensing nursing professionals.
It is the regional hub for administering the globally coveted National Council licensure examination, registered nurse examinations that are mandatory for nurses seeking to practice in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Speaking during the opening of the centre, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said the centre will enable nurses qualifying from public and private training institutions to meet the requirements of securing international jobs where the demand for nursing skills is ever-rising.
Mudavadi noted that the centre will allow the government to rapidly scale up the licensing and certification of nurses.
Currently, 2,000 nursing professionals have taken the exams in the recent past and are awaiting interviews for job placements abroad.
"Beyond creating jobs, this will increase diaspora remittances and enable our nurses to share the skills and experiences acquired abroad with their colleagues back home," Mudavadi said.
He further noted that his office will work closely with the Ministry of Health and other technical and professional institutions in the nursing ecosystem to reap maximum benefits from the centre.
"We will also work closely with the Ministry of Labour to expand opportunities for Kenyans working abroad," Mudavadi said.
He said this will contribute significantly to a strategy for coordinated labour migration and further foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among healthcare professionals.
This, Mudavadi said, will ultimately enhance employment prospects abroad for skilled Kenyans in the global healthcare sector.
Speaking during the launch, Health CS Susan Nakhumicha said the centre being hosted in the country will be a relief for nursing trainees who come from poor backgrounds and were having it tough travelling to South Africa for the exam.
"Our nurses who train in KMTC come from very humble backgrounds so the cost of them having to travel to South Africa to do the exam was such a big limiting factor. Today that cost has been waived from them," Nakhumicha said.
