Hospitals Improve Training for Critical Care Staff

Kenyan health authorities are expanding efforts to boost critical care capacity by ramping up training for emergency and intensive care personnel. The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and Inha University Hospital, is building a formal partnership to train more Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and critical-care practitioners. The initiative includes curriculum design, technology transfer, and strengthening training labs—all aimed at ensuring EMTs are well-equipped to handle emergencies and provide high-quality pre‑hospital care.
In June 2025, KMTC hosted an intensive emergency and critical care training workshop in Nairobi, funded by South Korea’s KOICA and Inha University. The training covered advanced topics in critical care, including patient stabilization, advanced life support, and ventilator management, and focused on building the capacity of Kenyan healthcare workers to respond to critical-care needs in both urban and rural hospitals.
To further close the skills gap, Kenya has also expanded its higher-diploma program in critical care nursing, with more nurses enrolling in specialty training at accredited institutions. This scale-up of training is particularly timely as ICU capacity grows: Nairobi County, for example, has increased its public ICU bed count from zero to 46 in just three years—the newly trained critical care staff will be instrumental in running these units.
According to experts, these capacity-building efforts are critical to Kenya’s goal of strengthening emergency and critical health care under its Universal Health Coverage agenda. By training more EMTs, specialized nurses, and critical-care clinicians, Kenyan hospitals aim to enhance patient outcomes, reduce mortality in emergencies, and ensure more equitable access to life-saving care