'We are stuck': Nursing students plead for end to strike
Nurses dancing outside Afya House in Nairobi on July 30, 2026 during the Kenya National Union of Nurses workers protests demanding the implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and calling on the Council of Governors (CoG) to sign and honor the negotiated deal.
Nursing students and interns across the country say the ongoing nurses' strike is disrupting their academic progress and are calling on the government to fast-track negotiations and allow their seniors back to work.
Nation spoke to several students from different universities and colleges attached to facilities across the country. All asked for anonymity, fearing victimisation.
A student who recently began their internship at Embu Level 5 Hospital said they may now have to stay longer than planned to make up for lost time. The hospital, they said, is not operating at full capacity, with some wards, particularly the labour ward, completely empty.
"We are now clustered at specific departments instead of doing rotation around the hospital to get experience in different departments," said the intern.
"We are only working in wards that have patients, and they are very few. At the moment we have patients at the paediatric ward, the newborn unit, accident and emergency and the theatre."
A nurse gesturing next to a banner at the entrance of Afya House in Nairobi on July 30,2026 during the Kenya National Union of Nurses workers protests demanding the implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and calling on the Council of Governors (CoG) to sign and honor the negotiated deal.
With nurses on strike nationwide, the students at the facility are currently being supervised by qualified nurses working on a locum basis.
"This affects us. We know that at some point we will finish our rotation in the wards that have patients, so we will be stuck. The internship policy dictates that we have to go through all those wards including the Intensive Care Unit," the intern said.
"The government should just listen to the nurses and come to an understanding. The patients here are suffering. They are now travelling far to be treated."
At a different facility in Machakos County, a student on attachment who is due to graduate later this year fears the strike could push their graduation into next year.
"We have been doing rotations for some time now. When the strike started, we kept working for about a week. We were later recalled by the school to go to other facilities, but they were all full. My fellow classmates in private and level 6 facilities are still at work," they said.
The student said they were asked to leave the facility because there was no one to supervise them. "There were no patients by the time we left. This will derail us," they added.
A student interning at Siaya County Referral Hospital had already been recalled by their university at the time of the interview.
"There are no patients at all. We are now being taken to rural facilities starting today (Monday). We don't know where we will go next," the student said.
"Going to rural facilities is still within the scope, but most times this happens when we have already been paid so that we can have the fare to go to the said hospitals. Right now, we don't have that because we have not been paid."
A patient lies unattended in the emergency unit at Kisumu County Referral Hospital on July 29, 2026, after being admitted overnight before the nationwide nurses' strike began. Most patients had yet to receive nursing services following the commencement of the industrial action at midnight.
The student said some hospital departments, including the renal unit, have shut down entirely. "We had only one nurse supervising us when we were still at work, and the nurse did that out of goodwill even though all her colleagues were on strike," they said.
Another nursing student, from Nairobi Women's College, said their school had recalled them from internship and given them a two-week break to assess the situation.
"By the time we left the facility, patients had been discharged, except at the paediatrics unit. There was no one to supervise us. A student lead took charge, but we were asked to leave. When the two weeks elapse, we were told to just go back to school," the student said.
Seth Panyako, Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), told Nation that union leaders met yesterday with a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour, the Council of Governors, the Health ministry and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
"We just want the SRC to give us a letter of no objection offer, and we will call off the strike immediately. We also want to know when the Universal Health Workers will get their appointment letters on permanent and pensionable terms," he said.
Panyako said interns remain students and should be working under the direct supervision of qualified staff.
"Basically, they are not working now. I have been receiving messages from them that their internship has been interfered with, and I told them that is the consequence of a strike. It is the same way we fought for interns to be posted and paid. Now we are fighting for the welfare of employed nurses who helped in fighting for the interns," he said.
"We assure them that the time that has not been covered will be covered," he added.
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