The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has blamed what it described as poor remuneration and lack of decent working environment for the mass exodus of nurses and other heath workers out of the country, saying 75,000 nurses and midwives migrated out of the country in past five years.
President of the association, Comrade Micheal Anachi, disclosed this yesterday at the 2023 International Nurses Day flag-off, with the theme: “Our Nurses. Our Future,” in Abuja.
He said “As a result of poor wages, and lack of decent work environments, over 75,000 Nurses and Midwives have migrated from Nigeria within a period of five years.”
The president lamented that though nurses play a significant role in providing care to patients, promoting health wellness, and advocating for the needs of their patients, they are faced with series of challenges in the cause of their profession.
The challenges, according to him, include increase workloads on nurses without compensation, exposing them to more health hazards and compromising the quality of healthcare delivery, due to shortage of nurses and midwives especially in certain areas of specialisation and geographic region.
Anachi identified other challenges faced by nurses in the country as “lack of social protection, Insurance, and inadequate compensation including other incentives for the nurses and midwives.
“Insecurity within and around the health facilities is a major challenge facing nurses in Nigeria, we have had various situations across the country where nurses were kidnapped for ransom, occupational hazards, and violence at the workplace while discharging their lawful duties.”
He frowned that the profession was being taken for granted especially on establishment matters, nothing that, seven years after the approval of the scheme of service, the office responsible for its gazette is yet to do the needful.
“Non-creation of a directorate of nursing in the Federal Ministry of Health is long overdue. Non-implementation of National Industrial Court (NIC) judgment of 2012.
“Non-implementation of the 60?per cent shift duty allowance as contained in the agreement signed by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH),” he added.
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