KMTC Intake 2026/2027: Courses, Entry Requirements and How to Apply

Updated 17 October 2026

The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) admits new diploma and certificate students twice a year, in March and in September. Every regular place is filled through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), not through agents or cybercafes. This guide explains where the 2026/2027 cycle stands today, which courses KMTC offers, the minimum grades, what it costs and how to apply when the next window opens.

Which KMTC Intake Is Open Right Now?

As of mid-October 2026, no KMTC application window is open for diploma and certificate courses. Here is how the current cycle has run so far:

• September 2026 intake: KUCCPS opened applications on July 24, 2026 and closed them on August 11, 2026. It then reopened 22 programmes that still had vacancies, with a final deadline of September 14, 2026. Placed students received SMS alerts and admission letters, and new students began reporting to campuses in September.
• March 2027 intake: not yet announced. Neither KMTC nor KUCCPS has published dates, vacancies or a course list for it.

For planning purposes, the last March intake gives a useful pattern. The March 2026 window opened on January 7, 2026 and closed on January 27, 2026, with 21,774 vacancies in 36 programmes across 98 campuses. KUCCPS later reopened selected courses until March 13, 2026. That is a pattern, not a promise, so treat any “March 2027 deadline” you see on social media as unconfirmed until it appears on the KUCCPS or KMTC website.

One more detail matters if you are sitting KCSE this year. In January 2026, KUCCPS said the 2025 KCSE class would apply in the September 2026 intake, after university placement, rather than the March one. If the same order is followed, the 2026 KCSE class should expect its main KMTC chance in September 2027. Candidates from earlier years who already have results can usually apply in the March round.

Courses KMTC Offers

For the September 2026 intake, KMTC approved vacancies in 34 programmes: 24 diplomas and 10 certificates. Not every course is offered every intake or at every campus, so always confirm on the portal when the next window opens.

Certificate courses include Community Health Assistant, Kenya Enrolled Community Health Nursing, Emergency Medical Technician, Health Insurance Management, Health Records and Information Technology, Medical Engineering, Mortuary Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, Orthopaedic Trauma Medicine and Public Health.

Diploma courses include Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Kenya Registered Community Health Nursing, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Radiography and Imaging, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Optometry, Community Health, Community Oral Health, Dental Technology, Emergency Medical Technology, Health Counselling, Health Insurance Management, Health Promotion, Health Records and Information Technology, Medical Engineering, Medical Social Work, Mortuary Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, Orthopaedic Technology, Orthopaedic and Trauma Medicine, Public Health, and Speech and Language Therapy.

Higher diploma courses for qualified health workers are handled separately, through the KMTC admissions portal at admissions.kmtc.ac.ke rather than KUCCPS.

Minimum Entry Requirements

These are the minimums KMTC published for the September 2026 intake. Meeting them makes you eligible; it does not guarantee a place, because popular courses fill with higher grades first.

Biology and Biological Sciences are treated the same, as are Physics and Physical Sciences. If your grades fall just short of a diploma, the matching certificate course is often open to you, and many KMTC certificate holders later upgrade. To see how your grades compare with degree courses in the same field, look at the KUCCPS Cluster 13 cut-off points for medicine, nursing and related courses.

How to Apply for KMTC Through KUCCPS

1. Wait for the official announcement on kuccps.ac.ke or kmtc.ac.ke. KMTC does not take regular applications any other way.
2. Go to the KUCCPS student portal at students.kuccps.ac.ke. New applicants register using their KCSE index number and year; if you applied before, log in with the details you used last time, or use the “forgot email/forgot password” option.
3. Open the KMTC programmes, check the courses and campuses you qualify for, and pick your choices in order of preference.
4. Pay the KSh 1,500 application fee through the portal (eCitizen). Applicants who were not placed in a previous round have been allowed to reapply using their earlier payment details.
5. Submit before the deadline and keep the confirmation. Results come by SMS and on the portal once placement is done.

You do not need to upload your KCSE certificate or result slip; KUCCPS checks your grades directly with KNEC. KUCCPS has warned applicants never to hand their certificates to cybercafe attendants, and recommends the cybercafes inside Huduma Centres. If eCitizen takes your money but the portal still shows unpaid, follow our guide on KUCCPS payment not reflecting on eCitizen. For a fuller picture of how choices and cut-offs work, see how KUCCPS placement works.

After placement, you get your admission letter and joining instructions through the KMTC admissions portal. Higher diploma applicants upload their scanned certificates, ID and photo on the same portal, and each scan must be under 2 MB. Our free KMTC upload size and compressor tool shrinks scans and photos on your own phone so they pass the portal on the first try.

KMTC Fees and Funding

Government-sponsored (regular) KMTC students placed through KUCCPS currently pay about KSh 82,200 in Year 1 (KSh 43,200 in Semester 1, which includes one-off registration charges, and KSh 39,000 in Semester 2) and KSh 78,000 a year in Years 2 and 3. That is roughly KSh 238,200 for a three-year diploma. Accommodation, meals, uniforms and books are extra. Self-sponsored students pay more. Your admission letter carries the exact figures and payment instructions, so go by that.

KMTC students placed by KUCCPS can apply for a HELB loan, and the government has said the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, now before Parliament, would extend its funding to KMTC students. Our HELB KMTC loan guide explains what HELB has said so far. To compare costs across colleges and universities, see the cost of studying nursing in Kenya and the cost of studying pharmacy in Kenya.

How to Catch the Next KMTC Intake

• Check kuccps.ac.ke and kmtc.ac.ke from early January for the March intake and from June for the September intake.
• Follow only the verified KUCCPS and KMTC social media accounts. KUCCPS has reported fake pages impersonating it and its chief executive.
• Ignore anyone selling “guaranteed” KMTC slots. Placement is done by the KUCCPS system on grades and choices only.
• For help, visit any KMTC campus, a Huduma Centre, or call the KUCCPS contact centre on 020 5137400 or 0713 924 444.

Once you finish, health jobs in clinics, hospitals and laboratories are listed in the healthcare jobs section on Jobinkenya.