Eight major healthcare unions have issued the government with a decisive 14-day ultimatum, threatening a coordinated nationwide strike unless programme workers in the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme are offered permanent employment with pension benefits.
The coalition, which represents clinical officers, nurses, pharmaceutical technologists, nutritionists, dieticians, public health officers, morticians and medical laboratory professionals, is unified in its demand for proper recognition of frontline workers who were recruited during the 2020 pandemic response.
Evans Boiyo (centre), a pharmacist from Elgeyo Marakwet, addresses Universal Health coverage (UHC) workers outside parliament buildings in Nairobi on May 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation
Union leaders emphasised that the ultimatum reflects their members' mounting frustration with empty promises and bureaucratic delays, which have left thousands of essential healthcare providers in professional limbo. They are unable to plan for the future or access benefits afforded to their permanent colleagues.
This announcement follows a series of protests in which staff have complained about their employment terms and conditions, demanding absorption into permanent and pensionable roles, and the payment of long-promised gratuities.
Many were hired on a contract basis with the understanding that their roles would eventually be converted to permanent, pensionable positions. Despite years of service, these promises have largely gone unfulfilled. They also earn significantly less — as much as 50 per cent less — than their permanent counterparts for performing the same work, yet they are still subjected to civil deductions. They are demanding equal pay for equal work.
UHC staff are also owed years of gratuity payments and lack job security and benefits such as health insurance, pensions and professional development opportunities, which are usually provided to public servants. Furthermore, many have complained of harassment and discrimination, including the denial of allowances and leave days. Meanwhile, a significant dispute between the national and county governments regarding who is responsible for hiring and paying them continues.
A police officer gives orders to protesting Universal Health coverage (UHC) workers outside parliament buildings in Nairobi on May 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation
During a press briefing, Peterson Wachira — the National Chairperson of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers and Chairperson of the Health Union Caucus — condemned the government’s failure to address their concerns promptly, and criticised the police for using violence against UHC workers who were demonstrating on Tuesday.
“We are going to write to the Inspector-General of Police and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) regarding police brutality. If we don’t have a report on the action that has been taken on the officers within 14 days, we are going to sue so that they can pay the damages. We are going to call our respective advisory councils to convene a joint national strike of healthcare unions,” said Mr Wachira.
“Our demands are clear and precise. We want the UHC contracts converted to PNP establishment from July 1, 2025. The issue of the budget is not our concern; it is a concern of the Ministry of Health. We demand that the IG take action and give an unqualified apology. Failure to do this, we are ready; we are going to go on strike.
“The short-term contracts they were given cannot enable them to go back to school and specialise. That means they cannot improve the quality of the services that they give because the only way health workers can better the quality of the service is by specialising. Under contracts, you cannot be taken for specialisation.”
Mr Wachira also explained that, due to poor pay, staff are unable to fund their own upskilling
“Ironically, a government would be saying they are employing people to help them implement the universal health coverage, but on the other hand, they deny them their rights and cannot facilitate them to better themselves so that they provide the quality of care that is required,” he said.
“When we are talking about harmonisation of pay and the budget for the same, the ministry has the money to pay those on contract for a whole year in the next budget. If they can use the same money and harmonise their pay, they will still have an opportunity to do a supplementary budget before the six months are over and get the extra money to continue harmonising that salary.
“It is very unfortunate that when peaceful health workers, whose primary mandate is to protect people's lives, go out there to demonstrate peacefully, they are met with brutality. About four of them were injured on Tuesday. We will be writing to the Ipoa, but we also demand that the Inspector-General of Police, Douglas Kanja, give a public apology. It must be shown that action has been taken on the rogue officers who injured our members. And we'll be writing to this effect.”
Universal Health coverage (UHC) workers march in protest along Uhuru Highway in Nairobi on May 20, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation
Mr Odipo Nicholas, the national chairperson of the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers, also condemned the police brutality while asking the IG of police to provide evidence of the damage that health workers allegedly caused and which warranted the unprovoked violence.
“We want to know if demonstrations were made illegal in this country. We want to know if the vuvuzelas and the whistles that the UHC demonstrators were using yesterday are weapons,” he said.
Mr Odipo also accused the Ministry of Health and the county governments of exploiting 97 Global Fund staff members whose contracts expired in June 2024. These employees have reportedly continued to offer their services without pay for 11 months, starting from July 2024.
This situation is particularly contentious as their contracts allegedly included provisions for their absorption into permanent roles upon completion of their contracts. By contrast, their counterparts serving under the national government have had their employment terms converted to permanent and pensionable, and they have been receiving uninterrupted salaries ever since.
Universal Health coverage (UHC) workers read the Daily Nation newspaper while protesting outside parliament buildings in Nairobi on May 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation
“We demand that the Ministry of Health and Council of Governors convene an urgent joint meeting with respective unions and other concerned stakeholders within the next 14 days to agree on a framework on absorption of all UHC and Global Fund staff from 1st July 2025, the payment of outstanding arrears for Global Fund staff, and the payment of service gratuity for the period served under contract,” he said.
Three days ago, governors rejected the plan for counties to pay the UHC workers, stating that they lacked resources.
When questioned about the matter, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said that he had met with health union leaders to discuss the issue, and that if UHC staff want to be paid, they should ask the National Assembly to allocate funds to the Health Ministry so that they can be transferred to the counties and paid as planned.
