Lead image for 'We are stuck': Nursing students plead for end to strike.
Nursing students and interns across the country say the ongoing nurses' strike is disrupting their academic progress and are calling on the government to fast-track negotiations and allow their seniors back to work.
Nation spoke to several students from different universities and colleges attached to facilities across the country. All asked for anonymity, fearing victimisation.
A student who recently began their internship at Embu Level 5 Hospital said they may now have to stay longer than planned to make up for lost time. The hospital, they said, is not operating at full capacity, with some wards, particularly the labour ward, completely empty.
"We are now clustered at specific departments instead of doing rotation around the hospital to get experience in different departments," said the intern.
"We are only working in wards that have patients, and they are very few. At the moment we have patients at the paediatric ward, the newborn unit, accident and emergency and the theatre."
Read: 147 days without care: Marsabit health crisis deepens as strike leaves patients stranded
A nurse gesturing next to a banner at the entrance of Afya House in Nairobi on July 30,2026 during the Kenya National Union of Nurses workers protests demanding the implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and calling on the Council of Governors (CoG) to sign and honor the negotiated deal.