Duale Orders These Clinical Officers To Be Blocked From Being Licensed
The CS reiterated that safeguarding the standards of training and professional practice is paramount to ensuring the health and safety of the public.
Viral Tea Ke Writer 
Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale has issued fresh orders to the Clinical Officers Council (COC), which is set to change how clinical officers are issued licences.
Duale, on Wednesday, April 23, held a high-level meeting with the leadership of the COC, led by Chairperson Prof. Samuel Kang’ethe, to discuss key regulatory reforms aimed at strengthening healthcare quality and safety under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) framework.
Citing Section 33(2) of the 2023 Social Health Insurance Act, the CS emphasised the Council’s obligation to uphold integrity, evidence-based regulation, and transparency in the licensing and oversight of clinical officers and facilities.
In a firm directive, Duale stated: “Do not license any clinical officer trained in an institution that has not been duly merited, inspected, and audited by the Council.”
A photo of clinical officers during a past protest. /KENYA INSIGHTS
The CS reiterated that safeguarding the standards of training and professional practice is paramount to ensuring the health and safety of the public.
To reinforce accountability, the CS instructed the Council to undertake a comprehensive re-inspection of all licensed health facilities and submit detailed reports to the Ministry.
"You must reinspect all these facilities and do a constant check. The CEO must go and sit with the CEO of the other council. You must find a way of working," Duale stated.
"There is no way his special team can deny a facility, and you give them a licence. We will not accept it because he will also bring his special report to us, so if we see that the two regulatory bodies' reports contradict, that is a problem."
This comes slightly over a month after the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) teamed up with the Health Sector Caucus to issue a joint statement outlining 30 reasons for rejecting the government’s plan to merge healthcare regulatory bodies.
"We, the officials and representatives of the health sector unions and associations under the Health Sector Caucus, reaffirm our position against the proposal to merge regulatory bodies and inform that peer regulations are currently the best standard since the regulator has a deeper understanding of the practitioners and institutions they regulate," read part of the statement.
In the meantime, Duale also called for the full digitisation of COC systems in alignment with the Ministry’s Digital Health Strategy and the Digital Health Agency, to facilitate real-time oversight and eliminate malpractice.
The CS further assured the Council of the Ministry’s support in enhancing coordination, driving policy reforms, and ensuring the successful rollout of the Taifa Care Model—a flagship component of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
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