Health unions in the country have opposed the government’s recent plan to merge their regulatory bodies.  

In a joint statement, the authorities warned that the merger would lead to increased bureaucracy, lack of accountability, and complex licensing requirements, among other challenges.  

According to them, peer regulation—unlike a merged system—allows professionals and organisations to monitor and evaluate each other effectively.  

“Self-regulation/peer regulation is the act, responsibility, and obligation of regulatory bodies in health in ensuring that healthcare professionals practice with all the necessary competencies and within the scopes of practice for the highest quality of care to the public.”

“It is ultimately the best and most efficient and effective means of regulating professionals, as those setting the rules and expectations are also those who are most familiar with how the profession should be practiced,” read the statement.  

Currently, there are ten statutory bodies, which the caucus says share a common set of core functions: setting standards for registrants, quality-assuring higher education courses, maintaining a register, and handling cases of professional misconduct.  

However, despite these commonalities, the councils differ in legislation, standards, approach, and efficiency.  

According to the medics, while joint regulation aims to balance professional autonomy with state oversight, it introduces challenges that could hinder efficiency, increase costs, and create regulatory confusion.  

Furthermore, they argue that the move could lead to potential political influence, reduced professional trust, ineffective crisis management, and conflicts of interest within the regulatory bodies.  

They also criticised proponents of the merger for failing to present any well-documented or thoroughly researched problem statement justifying the need to change the current peer regulation model in Kenya.

This, they said, raises concerns about the true motivation behind the push for the merger, which appears to be driven by a minority seeking to impose their opinion on the majority of health professionals.

Their remarks come amid ongoing discussions in Parliament regarding the declassification and merger of health regulatory bodies.  

Last week, the caucus warned that they would go on strike if the Bill is not withdrawn within 14 days.