The Council of Governors has criticized the government’s plan to send trained nurses abroad.
The Council noted that the government is pushing for the agenda yet there is a need for health workers in the nation.
“We spend a lot of money in training our health workers and we are giving them in the Western world with the ignorance of assuming they need jobs because they are jobless and yet our facilities have a shortage,” CoG Health committee chair Muthomi Njuki said.
“Currently the Kenyan public sector has a wealth work crisis with only 14 health workers per 10,000 Kenyans.”
They spoke in an international workshop on Developing Healthcare Workforce for Africa on Thursday.
The Council wants the government to reconsider the plan as the ratio is too high and a paradox as Western countries don't suffer such a challenge as opposed to African countries.
"While we are complaining we are having a brain drain doctors and nurses who are going to the outside world, we can not afford to employ them because we do not have the resources," Njuki said.
However, the Ministry of Health assured that there is enough workforce giving an example of Kenya Medical School that is currently producing 1000 nurses while five years ago it produced 300 nurses.
This comes after the government through the Ministry of Labour announced 2,500 available jobs for nurses in Saudi Arabia in January.
The bilateral agreement between the two nations was reached after Abdal Human Resources Company in Riyadh, the designated recruitment agency in Saudi Arabia sent an order to the government.
The agreement initiative was signed by Labor Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime.
“This Initiative has facilitated the employment of thousands of Kenyans in different economic sectors in the KSA and has expressed willingness through various organizations in KSA to recruit additional health care workers from Kenya,” the report read.
