More than 600 nurses leave Kenya every year in search of greener pastures in abroad, with United States, Canada and Australia being their most preferred destinations.
The Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) said that a majority of those seeking better fortunes overseas are aged between 21-35.
“This number keeps on increasing. This is a cause for concern because we are losing an extremely younger population to other countries.”
” Quite a number of them leave when they have already worked in the country for two or three years,” Council Chief Executive Officer Edna Tallam said.
A high number of those leaving the country are ones with specialized training in renal and ICU care. Botswana and South Africa are the leading destinations for Kenyan nurses in the African continent, figures from the Council shows.
Poor working conditions, poor pay, under-staffing in medical facilities and lack of a proper career progression are some of the main reasons driving away the medics from the country, Edna said.
“Our Education system is also not favourable. A diploma course takes three and a half years while a degree course takes fours years with no work and life balance. In these countries where our nurses are migrating to, they can be able to balance the two.” Edna added.
