Nurses canvass for creation of Bank of Health, seek end to quackery
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nurses have pledged to collaborate with other stakeholders to fight quackery in the profession and urged the establishment of a Bank of Health as in other sectors to facilitate access to healthcare.
The Association of General Private Nursing Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPNPN) cautioned its members not to participate in training people outside conventional schools, calling them auxiliary nurses.
“Nursing is a profession and for anybody to practise nursing in Nigeria, he or she must be trained in an institution approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), he or she must also pass the prescribed examinations and be licensed by the council,” AGPNPN National President Balogun Ajiboye said at the 12th AGM/Annual Scientific Conference in Benin City.
“Quackery in nursing has created an image dent in the profession. Quackery activities have sent many Nigerians to their early graves, it is like a cancerous tissue in the body that needs to be cut off immediately.
“I am therefore calling on all agencies involved in the eradication of quackery to double their efforts in stamping out quackery.
“There must be a collaboration with NMCN and Directors of Nursing Services of all the states who are the supervisory authority; they are like Governors of the Nursing and Midwifery Council but I am afraid if they are doing their work as expected.”
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70% of Nigerians opt for private healthcare
“The current statistics say that 70 per cent of Nigerians access health facilities through the private sector, which means that less than 30 per cent access health through government facilities.
“Ironically, the government spends all their facilities on these 30 per cent yet that is not a pass mark,” Ajiboye said, per Vanguard.
“In view of this, we appeal to governments at all levels to create access to finance for private practitioners and we solicit for the establishment of the Bank of Health; we have the Bank of Industry, we have the Bank of Agriculture yet we say health is wealth but why are they not giving health the priority it deserves.
Edo Director of Nursing Sciences Patricia Osazuwa said the state government is committed to stopping quackery in the nursing profession and advised AGPNPN members to stop the training of auxiliary nurses in their facilities.
The practice encourages others to train unqualified nurses, he warned.
National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) Edo Chairman Catherine Omonigho Eseine urged the state government to strengthen and enforce laws pertaining on the prosecution of quacks and their trainers.
