Hope and justice were restored today for over 300 nursing graduates as Health Cabinet Secretary Hon. Aden Duale officially flagged off 316 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) interns whose placements had been wrongly denied due to posting discrepancies.
Addressing the group at Afya House, CS Duale acknowledged the Ministry’s error and pledged continued commitment to transparency and fairness in the deployment of health workers.
“We are here this morning to correct a wrong and fulfil a promise,” he said. “These 316 graduates met all requirements but were mistakenly left out. Today we restore them to their rightful place in our health system.
The moment was not without irony. There were among the graduates those who had waited in hopelessness after being omitted from the initial list of 6,484 interns released on June 30, 2025.
They found themselves missing and this raised alarm, prompting the Ministry of Health to conduct an extensive audit.
What followed was the startling discovery: 42 non-graduating students who failed to make it and 306 non-graduates were erroneously included in the list, but 339 rightful graduates were left out Among them were the 316 interns now being reinstated.
In response, the Ministry took swift action:
The CEO of the Nursing Council of Kenya, Dr. Lister Onsongo, was suspended pending investigations.
Internship offers for all unqualified or non-graduated individuals were revoked.
The 316 wrongly excluded graduates were immediately reinstated and scheduled to report to their internship stations on August 4.
“Let me be clear this situation arose from administrative lapses that are being addressed internally. The students are not to blame,” Duale underscored, mourning the trouble and disruption the mistake caused.
He promised the other 306 students whose offers were revoked that they would be considered first in the next round of internships, once they have fulfilled all the graduation and licensure specifications.
In the future, the Ministry aims to prevent this from happening by strengthening coordination with the Nursing Council and schools of nursing.. A centralized digital internship management system is also in the works to improve verification, transparency, and efficiency.
“We are sealing loopholes, enhancing verification, and safeguarding the integrity of our health internship programme,” said CS Duale. “To the 316 interns reporting on 4th August serve with humility, integrity, and patriotism. You are the future of this nation’s healthcare.”
For the reinstated interns, today’s ceremony was more than symbolic it marked the beginning of a long-awaited professional journey, and a renewed trust in a system working to right its wrongs.