Public health services across Kenya are set to resume after the Council of Governors (CoG) and the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) signed a Return-to-Work Formula, bringing to an end a 36-day nationwide strike by clinical officers.
Following the agreement, all KUCO members have been directed to report back to their respective duty stations immediately and not later than 24 hours, paving the way for the restoration of services in county hospitals, health centres, and dispensaries that had been partially or fully shut for over a month.
The prolonged industrial action had placed immense strain on the devolved health system, with patients turned away from public facilities, maternity and emergency services stretched thin, and vulnerable communities forced to seek costly private care or go without treatment altogether.
The disruption was felt most acutely in rural and underserved counties where clinical officers form the backbone of primary healthcare.
Negotiations between the two parties intensified in recent days amid growing public concern and mounting pressure from health sector stakeholders. The Return-to-Work Formula is understood to provide a structured framework for addressing long-standing employment and welfare grievances raised by clinical officers, even as services resume across the country.
County governments have welcomed the agreement, describing it as a critical step toward stabilising healthcare delivery and easing the burden on both patients and the remaining health workforce. KUCO, however, has maintained that it will closely monitor the implementation of the agreed measures, warning that failure to honour commitments could reignite unrest within the sector.
As clinical officers begin returning to work, attention now turns to whether the deal will translate into lasting reforms within Kenya’s devolved healthcare system, which has in recent years been plagued by recurrent labour dispute
