Rethinking KMTC: Why Kenya must stop training health professionals it cannot fully utilise

The contradiction is difficult to ignore: while some qualified health professionals struggle with unemployment or underemployment, communities continue to experience shortages of healthcare personnel and gaps in service delivery. Medical training requires substantial investment in tutors, laboratories, clinical placements, specialised equipment and learning materials, and students and their families also commit years of effort and financial resources to acquiring professional qualifications. When these skills remain unused, the country loses valuable human potential and part of the return on its educational investment. Rethinking KMTC must therefore go beyond expanding campuses and increasing enrolment; it requires a comprehensive approach linking courses, training quality, workforce planning, employment, deployment and healthcare outcomes.

KMTC plays a central role in preparing Kenya's healthcare workforce through programmes spanning clinical, diagnostic, technical and community health professions, from certificate courses in community health, public health and nutrition to diploma programmes in nursing and midwifery, clinical medicine, pharmacy, medical laboratory sciences, radiography, physiotherapy and dental technology, alongside higher diploma specialisations such as critical care nursing, clinical pharmacy and health systems management. This diversity reflects the reality that healthcare depends on multidisciplinary teams, but the number of courses offered should not become an end in itself; every programme should respond to an identifiable healthcare need and provide graduates with credible employment pathways.

Training without utilisation wastes human potential. A laboratory professional without an appropriate position cannot contribute fully to disease diagnosis, an unemployed rehabilitation specialist cannot help patients regain mobility, and trained nurses, pharmacists and radiographers cannot improve services if facilities lack funded positions or the resources needed to utilise their expertise. This does not mean every graduate must automatically receive a government job, since recruitment must respect approved staffing establishments, available budgets and transparent procedures, but training decisions must be informed by realistic employment projections and the health needs of the population.

Graduate unemployment and healthcare staffing shortages should not be treated as unrelated problems. Such mismatches may result from unfunded vacancies, delayed recruitment, unequal geographical distribution or difficult working conditions, and KMTC, the Ministry of Health, county governments, professional regulators and healthcare employers should develop a coordinated national health workforce framework establishing how many professionals are needed in different cadres, where they are required and how many can realistically be absorbed into employment over the next five to ten years. Regular graduate tracer studies should establish how many former students secure relevant employment and whether they practise their trained professions, with the findings informing curriculum reviews and admissions decisions.

Employment planning alone cannot solve the challenges facing medical education; graduates must also possess the practical competencies required to serve patients safely and effectively. Nursing students need adequate clinical exposure, laboratory students require functioning equipment, and pharmacy and rehabilitation students need appropriate facilities and supervised practice. KMTC should strengthen partnerships with hospitals, laboratories and county health departments to improve clinical placements and supervision, with curricula reviewed regularly in consultation with employers and practising health workers, and tutors given opportunities for professional development supported by manageable workloads.

County governments are essential partners in aligning medical training with local healthcare needs, given that counties face different disease burdens and staffing gaps, while rural and marginalised communities require particular attention supported by adequate equipment, reliable supplies and opportunities for career progression. Private hospitals, diagnostic laboratories and research institutions can also provide employment opportunities, and KMTC should strengthen partnerships with these employers to improve workplace exposure, though career guidance and entrepreneurship must not replace government responsibility for realistic workforce planning.

Kenya needs a medical training system that connects education with employment, public investment with public value, and professional competence with the needs of patients. The success of KMTC should not be measured only by the number of courses offered or graduates produced, but also by graduate employment, practical competence, equitable deployment and improvements in healthcare delivery. 

Kenya must not merely train health professionals; it must build a healthcare system capable of employing, retaining and fully utilising their expertise, the real test of medical education reform and the foundation of a more responsive and sustainable healthcare system.