Up to 14000 nurses leave Nigeria, NMCN devises schemes to mitigate exodus
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Up to 14,000 nurses have left the country for foreign shores in recent years, at a rate that bothers the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) which has initiated a nursing and midwifery scheme to cater to the grassroots,
NMCN Secretary General/Registrar Faruk Abubakar disclosed this at a retreat for NMCN top management in Akure.
“We come to strategically introduce the Community Nursing and Midwifery Programme so that these younger, lower cadres of nurses are retained in the community and continue to discharge their nursing and midwifery care.
“After two years of service in rural communities, they can always continue their education,” he explained.
Abubakar said there are also plans to increase admission quota in nursing schools, approve the establishment of more colleges of nursing, and accredit nursing departments in eligible universities.
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Five-year development plan
A five-year plan running from 2023 to 2027 has been developed by the NMCN and “the implementation is starting this year to address critical areas of nursing education and practice,” Abubakar disclosed, per reporting by The PUNCH.
He expressed appreciation to the Ondo government for creating a health insurance scheme which he said would improve healthcare service delivery statewide.
Ondo Health Commissioner Banji Ajaka appealed to the NMCN to mitigate the rate at which nurses quit the country for greener pastures.
He said the government shares the vision of the retreat, which is to enable it to review its activities and plan for the years ahead.
Nurses canvass for creation of Bank of Health to facilitate healthcare delivery
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 last November.
“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.”