Ministry revokes irregular nursing internship placements, suspends nursing council CEO

The Ministry of Health Monday announced the revocation of internship placements for 42 Bachelor of Science in Nursing students after uncovering a major breach of national training and regulatory procedures.

According to a statement, the affected students—drawn from ten public and private universities—were unlawfully submitted for internship placement before completing their academic programmes, in clear violation of the Nursing Council Act and Public Service Commission (PSC) guidelines.

“The Ministry has revoked all internship letters issued to the affected 42 students with immediate effect,” said Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.

“These individuals have been instructed to vacate their duty stations as investigations commence.”

The Ministry also suspended Dr. Lister Onsongo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK), pending the outcome of a comprehensive internal audit of all 2,098 nursing interns in the 2025/2026 cohort.

Director of Standards and Compliance, Ann Mukuna, was appointed to oversee the Council’s operations in the interim.

Duale emphasized that the Ministry is treating the matter with utmost urgency, promising that any individuals found responsible—whether within the Ministry, the NCK, or the implicated universities—will face full accountability.

“The Ministry is committed to upholding the integrity of healthcare training and deployment,” Duale said. “All individuals found culpable will be held fully accountable.”

The scandal highlights growing concerns over regulatory oversight within Kenya’s health education sector and comes at a time when the integrity of public service recruitment is under national scrutiny.

The Ministry stated that this action is intended to safeguard professional standards and protect the rights of nursing graduates and the public.

Duale has been making far reaching decisions at the ministry aimed at reforming the sector.