The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) will review and reorganise the courses it offers after Members of Parliament warned that too many of its graduates are leaving its campuses with certificates and diplomas but no jobs.

KMTC Chief Executive Officer Kelly Oluoch made the commitment on Monday, 26 October 2026, when the National Assembly's Health Committee visited the college's headquarters in Nairobi on a budget implementation oversight tour. The committee, chaired by Seme MP James Nyikal, used the visit to press the college on whether its training matches the needs of Kenya's health labour market.

"Train for the jobs that exist"

Nyikal told the college's management that KMTC should give priority to courses that prepare students for work in government, which he described as the institution's main employer. He drew a line between the public college and private training institutions, which he suggested may offer courses that do not match what employers are looking for.

"KMTC should not be driven by the same needs as private institutions," Nyikal said, according to Kenyans.co.ke.

Nyikal, a medical doctor and former Director of Medical Services, warned that young people should not spend years in college only to graduate without meaningful employment.

Endebess MP Robert Pukose, also a doctor, said spending money on programmes without first looking at job availability risked hurting both the students and the institution.

"The courses offered by KMTC should be viable in the job market. We do not want a situation where graduates from the institution fail to secure employment opportunities," Pukose said.

Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino and Kisumu Central MP Joshua Oron were among other committee members who backed the call for training that improves graduates' chances of being hired.

College promises a reorganisation

In response, Oluoch said the college would review and reorganise its programmes to keep its curriculum relevant to the labour market. He also pointed out that every KMTC learner already takes a compulsory entrepreneurship course designed to help graduates either find work or start their own income-generating ventures.

The college did not give a timeline for the review or say which programmes could be merged, scaled down or dropped.

KMTC runs 126 courses across 92 campuses around the country, ranging from short specialised courses to certificates, diplomas and higher diplomas. Its diploma offerings include clinical medicine, nursing and midwifery, pharmacy, medical laboratory sciences, radiography and imaging, physiotherapy, nutrition and dietetics, and public health. At certificate level it trains community health assistants, medical engineering technicians, health records officers and emergency medical technicians, among others.

A growing workforce, a tight job market

The college is Kenya's largest producer of mid-level health workers and has expanded in recent years, adding new programmes such as speech therapy and audiology. That growth has run up against a public health sector where counties and the national government have struggled to absorb new graduates, even as hospitals report staff shortages and unions complain of heavy workloads.

KMTC has increasingly looked abroad for openings. Earlier this month it announced a pathway for dental technology and community oral health graduates to work in Germany, including German language training for students in those programmes from the 2026/27 academic year.

The wider jobs picture remains difficult. Kenyans.co.ke, citing International Labour Organisation data, puts the number of Kenyans without employment at about 2.8 million.

The committee's intervention adds to pressure on public training institutions to show value for money as Parliament scrutinises spending. How far KMTC goes in trimming or reshaping its course list, and whether the Ministry of Health and counties expand hiring at the same time, will determine whether the review changes the prospects of the thousands of students who graduate from the college each year.

Photos: Kenyans.co.ke (KMTC headquarters); Ninara/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (Parliament Buildings, Nairobi)