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A health official in the Kilifi County government wants the national government to move with speed and come up with measures to control the alarming rate of mass exodus of nurses from the country.

Kilifi county Reproductive Health Coordinator Kennedy Miriti said newly employed youthful nurses are leaving the country annually at an alarming rate to pursue for greener pastures abroad.

He said that since the national  nurses’ strike in 2017, the number of nurses  in public health facilities  has significantly reduced through the annual mass exodus to  overseas  for better remunerations.

Miriti  spoke at Kilifi County Referral Hospital yesterday after holding a procession within Kilifi town to mark the end of the Nurses and Midwives week.

Nurses’ strike

“Since the 2017 nurses strike, the  number of nurses  has been increasing at an alarming rate. This is a cause of concern especially to both levels of governments because we are losing young professionals to other countries. Majority of them leave for good  after only having  worked in the country for three to four years,” he said.

Some of the reasons that  force  the medics to leave the country for greener  pastures according to Miriti include lack of career progression, poor working conditions, under-staffing in hospitals and poor remunerations.

“I am  urging the government to consider taking this matter with seriousness because the  mass exodus has hit hard  the cadre of  well trained and skilled healthcare providers who are the  majority in level three and four hospitals,” said Miriti. He observed that most nurses have migrated to countries such as  Australia, UK, Canada and US among other European countries for better salaries.

Majority of the nurses prefer working in countries such as Canada and the USA.

The county health coordinator also tasked the government to determine best approach to manage issues affecting medics to  avert the mass exodus  which is impacting negatively  on the country’s healthcare.

“We know the health sector has been facing challenges for a while but they have enough resources to absorb more medics through proper arrangements,” added Miriti.