Ministry forced to recall hundreds of letters as investigation reveals massive posting irregularities
Nurses and midwives march through the streets of Kakamega town to create awareness for International Nurses and Midwives Day 2025 celebrations. Some 316 nursing interns who missed out on internships will finally receive their offer letters after a month-long ministry investigation.
What you need to know:
- Some 316 nursing interns who missed out on internships will finally receive their offer letters.
- The probe revealed that 306 other interns who had received posting letters were actually ineligible for the programme.
Some 316 nursing interns who had missed out on internships following discrepancies during the posting process will on Friday (today) receive their offer letters at the Health ministry offices.
This follows a month-long investigation by ministry officials who revealed in a statement yesterday that some of the interns who had been given internship letters were ineligible.
The Health ministry yesterday confirmed that an additional 306 nursing interns who had received posting letters did not qualify to be enlisted this year. On July 21, the ministry had revoked the internships of only 42 nursing interns despite evidence from students that there were more people who did not meet the criteria this year. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said that while the investigation is ongoing, all affected internship centres have been notified of the cancellations.
When the initial revocation happened on July 21, Nation spoke to some of the students who had missed out, and they expressed disappointment, saying that there were options to include them this year, but at the time, no one listened to them.
Victor, who requested to be identified by his first name only, is a nursing intern from Embu University. He told Nation that while he joined university earlier than some of his colleagues who got offer letters, he wondered why he missed out this year despite meeting all the requirements.
Not on list
"I joined university in 2019 and we completed our first and second semesters seamlessly that year. When Covid-19 struck, we lost a semester. We were to graduate in 2023, but we graduated in September 2024, and our names were submitted in good time. We were ready for an internship," he said.
On June 30, when the Health ministry announced that interns from all cadres were to pick up their letters at the ministry, Victor travelled from Eldoret only to find out that his name was not on the list.
"When we checked the list that our university had submitted, we noticed that the Nursing Council of Kenya picked the first 25 on the list and left everyone else," he said.
"We were unfairly left out. When we tried to follow up on the criteria used by NCK, they said they were working on it," he added.
In a press briefing on July 22, CS Duale told journalists that because of budget constraints, all those who had missed out this year would have to wait until the next financial year.
"It will not be business as usual. The internship programme, going forward, will be digitised," he said.
"It's only in Kenya where you find somebody who has not finished their course now being posted. We have instituted an internal audit of the whole system," he added.
In the latest investigation, Baraton University had the highest number (92) of students whose postings have been recalled.
Other universities whose nursing interns' letters were disqualified include: Pwani University (48), Kirinyaga University (46), Meru University of Science and Technology (38), Daystar University (34), Kenyatta University (22), Catholic University (6), Methodist University (17), South Eastern Kenya University (6), Egerton University (2), Embu University (1), Karatina University (1), Maasai Mara University (2), Masinde Muliro University (2), Mount Kenya University (3), and Umma University (4).
