The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has thrown its full support behind Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale’s directive on the licensing and employment of foreign doctors, warning that parts of Kenya’s healthcare system have descended into what it terms “modern-day slavery.”
Duale announced on Wednesday, January 8, 2026, a sweeping policy shift that will see Kenya stop renewing licences for most foreign doctors, saying the move is necessary to protect jobs for thousands of unemployed Kenyan medical professionals.
The CS said Kenya will strictly limit the practice of foreign doctors, allowing only specialists whose expertise cannot be sourced locally, and exclusively from countries within the East African Community (EAC).
In a statement issued on Thursday, KMPDU said the medical profession has for years been treated as “a frontier for profiteering, at the expense of human dignity, professional ethics, and lawful labour standards.”
The union declared: “Today, we declare unequivocally: the era of treating doctors as cheap, disposable labour is over.”
According to KMPDU, more than 3,000 foreign general practitioners have been licensed to practise in Kenya over the past four years.
While acknowledging the importance of international cooperation and skills exchange, the union said many of these doctors were not recruited to fill genuine skills gaps. Instead, it accused some private hospitals of deliberately targeting foreign practitioners as a vulnerable workforce to exploit.
“By paying wages far below those stipulated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), these facilities have institutionalised a system that can only be described as modern-day slavery,” the statement read.
KMPDU said such practices violate International Labour Organisation conventions C100 and C97, which guarantee equal remuneration and equal treatment of skilled labour across borders.
The union warned that the exploitation of doctors goes beyond labour rights and undermines medical ethics.
“When hospitals prioritise profit over professional integrity, the consequences are devastating,” KMPDU said, linking the trend to ethical failures witnessed in recent organ transplant scandals.
“Facilities that dehumanise doctors inevitably extend the same disregard to patients, placing lives at risk and tarnishing the reputation of Kenya’s healthcare system,” the union added.
KMPDU also accused private facilities of abusing immigration laws by bypassing Class D work permit requirements, which require employers to prove that specialised skills are unavailable locally.
The union noted that this is happening despite “the existence of thousands of qualified Kenyan doctors who remain unemployed or grossly underutilised.”
Local doctors, the statement added, are also affected, with many subjected to “demeaning locum rates that blatantly contravene KMPDC guidelines.”
The union reminded employers that approved day and night locum rates are “binding professional standards, not optional suggestions.”
Looking ahead, KMPDU announced a nationwide enforcement campaign to ensure full compliance with labour laws, CBAs, SRC guidelines, and professional standards.
“Every doctor practising on Kenyan soil must be employed under dignified, transparent, and lawful contractual terms,” the union said, warning that non-compliant facilities should prepare to face industrial and legal action.
“The dignity of the Kenyan doctor is not for sale,” said KMPDU Secretary-General Dr. Davji Bhimji Atellah.
