The medical personnel, most of them nurses, are going to earn a salary of between $3,000 and $4,000 (Ksh 234,000 and Ksh 312,000 at the current exchange rate of Ksh 78 to a dollar) a month. This is besides the overtime pay of about $27 an hour.

In fact, most of the nurses who are preparing to leave are those in Job group K8, K9 and K10. They are said to be young and ambitious, having worked for about six years.

For those preparing to leave, the deal is just too good. Once in the States, their agents are going to cater for their expenses for the first three months as they settle down. The nurse, her husband and children below the 18 years old are going to be granted green cards.

Also on arrival in the United States, their agent will facilitate how they get jobs in various hospitals in different states.

Most of the nurses rearing to go have gone through an 18 to 24 months process of recruitment, which involves taking examinations, and undertaking thorough medical check-up to establish their HIV/Aids status and absence of other major diseases. The beauty of it all is that all the costs are met by the recruiting agent.

However, the nurse will have to meet his or her airfare and that of her or his family members.

One of the nurses is upbeat about the whole arrangement saying it going to improve her well being and that of her family.

“I think this is God-send. We toil here but you get nothing. So why should I not take the risks if this course of action promises to improve my life and that of my family,” enthuses a mother of two and one of the nurses ready to leave for the United States.

For others it is mixed feelings. Says 28-year-old Jane Maundu: “It is very painful and difficult decision to make especially when one thinks about leaving behind your family members. But in this turbulent economic situation prevailing in the country, is a sacrifice worthy making.”

These two and other nurses who are planning to leave before the end of the year, are stationed at various hospitals in Nairobi and its environs. Those interviewed at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and at Mbagathi District hospital, say although they have not heard of the present arrangement; some of their colleagues have already left through other ways.

This recent development is one in a series where the country through brain drain, is loosing a huge number of its medical personnel and experts in other fields to other countries. 

The most preferred destinations are America, Britain, and Southern African countries, in particular South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana.

Reliable sources at KNH say the hospital is loosing about five nurses every month. Majority of them are heading to America and Britain. Even the senior nurses retiring from the profession are seeking better conditions abroad.

Analysts are now worried that Kenyans objective of sustainable development may be affected by the departures of these professionals.