KMTC Rolls Out New Health Courses As Demand For Specialised Workers Grows

Kenya’s medical training landscape just got a bit more specialized as the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) rolled out three new programmes targeting speech and hearing health, a field that’s long been underserved in the country’s healthcare system.

According to KMTC, the new offerings include a Diploma in Speech Therapy, a Higher Diploma in Speech and Language Therapy, and a Higher Diploma in Audiology.

KMTC CEO Dr Kelly Oluoch broke the news at this year’s Kenya Health Summit, held August 18–19 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi.

The moment came during a Presidential Listening Session, where President William Ruto pointed to the college’s new specialities as evidence of the health sector adapting to shifting demand.

“Invited by the President to elaborate, Dr. Oluoch highlighted the College’s introduction of the Diploma in Speech Therapy, Higher Diploma in Speech and Language Therapy and Higher Diploma in Audiology, among programmes aimed at closing emerging skills gaps in the health sector,” the college said in a statement issued Thursday.

It’s part of a broader push to get more trained specialists into a system that’s still catching up with demand. KMTC says gaps are especially visible in maternal and newborn care, where a shortage of skilled personnel continues to slow down access to timely treatment.

On that front, the college has already trained 429 Enrolled Community Health Nurses with backing from UNHCR and the Beyond Zero campaign, nurses who’ll be deployed largely to arid and semi-arid regions where maternal and child health services remain thin.

The numbers paint a picture of an institution scaling up fast. KMTC expects to graduate roughly 25,000 health professionals this year, up from about 15,000 in 2022, a jump of nearly 70 percent in just four years.

“KMTC trains about 85 per cent of Kenya’s middle-level health workforce. As the health system changes, our responsibility is to ensure that the workforce changes with it,” Oluoch said, adding that the college intends to keep building out specialised and emerging skill areas as healthcare needs evolve.

This latest move follows KMTC’s rollout of Primary Health Care courses across all its faculties earlier this year, and pushes the college’s total course offering past 126 programmes, not counting its various short courses.

Established in 1927, KMTC remains Kenya’s largest health training institution, operating under the Ministry of Health.

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