Duale announces posting of 6,484 healthcare interns
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has officially announced the posting of 6,484 healthcare interns for the 2025/2026 internship cohort, with deployment set to begin by July 1, 2025.
In a statement released on Friday, June 27, 2025, Duale, through the Ministry of Health, highlighted that this step is part of its ongoing commitment to ensuring the timely deployment of interns and strengthening Kenya’s health workforce.
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“This milestone underscores the ministry’s continued dedication to strengthening Kenya’s health workforce and developing a pipeline of skilled hands-on professionals to support service delivery across the country,” Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said.
The interns will be deployed to accredited internship centres, where they will undertake a 12-month structured internship programme.
The programme is designed to provide supervised clinical training and practical exposure in real-world healthcare settings, ensuring that the interns are well-prepared for their roles in the health sector.
The cohort consists of a diverse group of professionals, including 1,147 medical officer interns, 87 dentist interns, 500 pharmacist interns, 659 BSc clinical officer interns, 1,993 clinical officer interns with diplomas, and 2,098 BSc nursing officer interns.
Duale said the broad distribution reflects the ministry’s aim to address various needs within the healthcare system.
All eligible pre-interns have been advised to collect their posting letters in person on Monday, June 30, 2025, from 9 am at the Ministry of Health Headquarters at Afya House in Nairobi.
The Ministry has made it clear that posting letters will only be issued upon presentation of a valid National Identity Card.
The timely collection is encouraged to facilitate smooth reporting and preparation at the designated facilities.
This latest move by the Ministry of Health is expected to significantly bolster the delivery of healthcare services across the country, ensuring that hospitals and clinics are adequately staffed with well-trained professionals ready to serve the Kenyan public.
Doctor Interns remuneration
In February 2025, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Davji Atellah appealed to the Ministry of Health to post medical students working as interns in public hospitals and increase their salaries from the proposed Ksh70,000.
Addressing the intern doctors during a Town Hall Assembly at the Ufungamano Hall in Nairobi, where he was accompanied by a delegation drawn from the Internship Liaison Committee, Atellah urged the government to honour the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of 2017-2021, negotiated between the Ministry of Health and the union.
“It is well written in the CBA 2017/2021 that interns will be posted 30 days after clearance from the Medical Council to the Board,” he said, noting that KMPDU agitates on behalf of the interns because the framework of their posting is outlined as well as their wages.
Additionally, he pleaded with the government to increase the salaries of interns from the proposed Ksh70,000, terming it a meagre amount compared to the input and duties of the medical interns.
Atellah further stated that KMPDU has been engaging with the Ministry to ensure that doctors and interns avoid a strike that would paralyse healthcare services across the country.
“We discussed how the interns were to be posted. The court made a ruling on October 17, 2004, which ordered that either the number of interns being posted be reduced per batch, or the employer discusses with the union and workers on the posting,” he said.
He also added that last year’s court order, directed the Ministry to seek advisory from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, so as to guide the process of posting and paying the medical interns.
