More than 11,000 pharmaceutical technologists have threatened to down their tools in protest against new pharmacy practice standards they claim could restrict diploma-level practitioners from working in higher-level health facilities.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The dispute centres on the 2026 Good Pharmacy Practice Standards adopted by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, which the Kenya Pharmaceutical Association says will limit diploma holders to dispensaries while allowing degree holders to administer medicines in Level Three to Six health facilities.

Kenya Pharmaceutical Association Chairman Chitechi Amboka described the guidelines as discriminatory, arguing that they would strip qualified diploma-level technologists of responsibilities they have been undertaking in the healthcare system.

Amboka said pharmaceutical technologists make up more than 70 per cent of healthcare practitioners and play a critical role in the day-to-day running of health facilities.

📌 What You Need to Know

“The new guidelines adopted by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board will bar over 11,000 of our members from handling medicines across 3,569 public facilities, retaining those functions for degree holders only,” Amboka said.

He said the association had already petitioned the Ministry of Health and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board over the guidelines, but had not received a satisfactory resolution. The association has now announced plans for demonstrations on Thursday to demand that the standards be suspended.

Amboka further warned that members could close their facilities if the government failed to address their concerns, arguing that the changes could disrupt healthcare delivery and undermine the government’s Universal Health Coverage agenda.

The Kenya National Union of Pharmaceutical Technologists also opposed the standards, with its chairman Kenneth Omogi announcing plans for street demonstrations and arguing that the new guidelines were inconsistent with existing laws governing the profession.

The technologists maintain that diploma-level practitioners have undergone the required training, are approved and licensed by the relevant authorities, and should be allowed to perform pharmacy-related duties across different levels of health facilities.

However, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has rejected the interpretation of the new standards, saying they do not prevent diploma holders or any other category of pharmacy professionals from practising in Kenya.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke