By Valentine Omondi
Patients across Kenya can now breathe a sigh of relief as nurses return to public hospitals after 43 days of industrial action that disrupted healthcare services, strained medical workers and threatened to trigger a wider health sector strike.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUNM) called off the strike on Wednesday, September 9, after reaching a Return-to-Work Formula with the Council of Governors following a day-long closed-door meeting in Nairobi.
KNUNM Secretary-General Seth Panyako announced the end of the strike during a press briefing after the negotiations, directing nurses to resume duty immediately and within 24 hours at the latest.
“By the powers conferred on me by the Constitution of the Kenya National Union of Nurses and the Constitution of Kenya, I hereby declare that the strike that commenced on the 29th of July 2026 is hereby called off,” Panyako said.
The agreement gives the two sides 45 days to conclude negotiations on the implementation of the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which has remained unresolved for years.
Council of Governors Chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi confirmed the agreement during the briefing, saying the dispute had largely been driven by the failure to implement the 2017 CBA.
“We know nurses have been on strike for 43 days. It was because of the non-implementation of the 2017 CBA. We now have a RTWF,” Abdullahi said.
The Council of Governors also committed to coordinate the development of a model career guideline for nursing personnel within the 45-day period.
CBA row sends nurses into six-week nationwide walkout
The strike began on July 29 after nurses walked away from their stations over the failure to implement the 2017 CBA and other outstanding employment grievances.
The union had also raised concerns over the employment of Universal Health Coverage workers on permanent and pensionable terms, career progression and other terms affecting nurses.
The 2017 CBA itself followed a six-month nurses’ strike almost a decade ago, but key provisions remained unresolved, with the government repeatedly citing financial constraints.
As the latest strike dragged on, nurses maintained that they would not return to work until their grievances were addressed.
The dispute eventually moved beyond negotiations, with hundreds of nurses taking their protests to the Council of Governors’ offices in Nairobi on Tuesday, September 8, a day before the breakthrough.
The demonstration came as governors and other officials were under growing pressure to find a solution to the dispute.
Patients bear brunt as public hospitals struggle without nurses
For 43 days, the absence of nurses disrupted healthcare services in public hospitals across the country.
Some facilities faced shortages of essential nursing services while patients were forced to endure delays, seek treatment in private facilities or travel to other areas where services were available.
The crisis also affected dispensaries and health centres in some counties. The Senate discussed the disruption on Tuesday, with Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei warning of a rise in deaths and accusing the Council of Governors and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission of contributing to what he described as a national crisis.
The prolonged strike also placed enormous pressure on doctors and other healthcare workers who remained on duty.
Doctors were increasingly required to deal with responsibilities normally handled by nurses, creating another layer of pressure within a health system already facing staffing shortages.
Doctors threatened fresh strike as nurses’ absence stretched hospitals
The pressure reached a critical point on Tuesday, September 8, when the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) threatened to join the nurses’ strike.
KMPDU Secretary-General Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah gave the government seven days to resolve the nurses’ grievances, warning that doctors would issue their own strike notice if the dispute remained unresolved.
Atellah said doctors were already overwhelmed by the additional workload created by the nurses’ absence.
“Doctors cannot do the nursing jobs,” he said.
In a post on X, Atellah warned that doctors would not remain silent while the health system deteriorated.
“We will not watch silently as the healthcare system we have dedicated our lives to serving is allowed to deteriorate,” he said.
He added: “When one part of healthcare is compromised, we all suffer. And when we stand together, we protect our patients together.”
The seven-day ultimatum meant the country was potentially facing another health workers’ strike just as the nurses’ industrial action entered its final stages.
The agreement reached on Wednesday has now removed that immediate threat.
Governors offer allowance boost as nurses agree to return
The breakthrough followed an offer by county governments to increase nurses’ allowances.
The Council of Governors offered an increase in the risk allowance to Sh8,000 and an additional Sh5,000 in uniform allowance, translating to a combined Sh13,000 increase.
The Return-to-Work Formula also provides a framework for addressing the outstanding CBA issues within 45 days.
The agreement further provides for the absorption of Universal Health Coverage workers into county employment on permanent and pensionable terms, while the Council of Governors is expected to coordinate the development of career progression guidelines for nurses.
For the Council of Governors, the deal offers an opportunity to restore services in county hospitals after more than six weeks of disruption.
For nurses, however, the 45-day negotiation period will be crucial because the central issues that triggered the strike have not simply disappeared with the return to work.
Nurses return as 45-day countdown begins
The return of nurses is expected to ease pressure on public hospitals, doctors and other healthcare workers while restoring services that had been disrupted for more than six weeks.
Patients who depend on public hospitals will also be watching closely as nurses resume their duties, particularly those who were forced to postpone treatment or seek alternative facilities during the strike.
But Wednesday’s agreement is not the final chapter.
The government, county governments and the nurses’ union now have 45 days to address the outstanding issues under the 2017 CBA and implement the commitments contained in the Return-to-Work Formula.
The success of that process could determine whether the latest deal becomes a lasting solution or another temporary truce in Kenya’s recurring health workers’ labour disputes.
For now, after 43 days away from their stations, the nurses are back, public hospitals are preparing to restore normal services and the threat of a doctors’ strike has been pushed back.
