Posted on: Thu 02-06-2022

Akwa Ibom State Nurses under the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, (NANNM), Akwa Ibom State Council have expressed dismay and sadness over what they described as lack of government care and proper attention to Nurses welfare.

The Association complained of the inability of the state government to proffer solutions to several problems bothering on the welfare of Nurses.

Speaking with the reporter recently in the NANNM headquarters, Uyo, the State Chairman of NANNM, Comrade Emem David said the government of His Excellency Mr. Udom Emmanuel has not taken care of the welfare of Nurses in the state, adding that government insensitiveness on the plights of Nurses has affected their outputs.

He enumerated some of the problems facing them to include, Shortage of Nursing personnel in Akwa Ibom State workforce. According to him, the negative impact was associated with massive retirement, and mass exodus of Nurses to developed countries for greener pastures and stated that nursing workforce is grossly inadequate. He added, "We have not more than 900 Nurses in the state government employ and 280 in Local government including those that are going to be retired this year. How will these numbers serve over 6,497,967 Akwa Ibomites and other Nigerians seeking quality healthcare in the state; and service the Healthcare Institutions/facilities of over 50 at the secondary level, 458 Primary Healthcare Centres as well as 9 Nursing Institutions in the State, even when the state government has invested much in revamping the healthcare facilities in some parts of the state. If you fix the facilities without workforce you are fixing to decay and fail".

He also requested for the implementation of Unified Scheme of Service for all Nurses, recalling that the National Council on Establishment (NCE) in her 39th meeting held at Minna, Niger State on the 22nd July, 2016 approved a Unified Scheme of Service for all Nurses with Nomenclature as "Nursing Officer" with minimum qualification as Nigeria Registered Nurse (NRN) certificate have since been implemented in other states is yet to be implemented in Akwa Ibom State till now.

The NANNM Boss maintained that lack of payment of arrears of entitlements and allowances of Nurses including newly approved Hazard Allowance were other problems of the healthcare workforce in the state.

The State NANNM Chairman further requested for immediate implementation of payment of arrears of Consolidated Akwa Ibom Health Salary Structure (CONAKHESS) to Nurses at the Local Government employ while he applauded the State government for the payment of the said arrears to Nurses at the State level (State Hospitals Management Board and Ministry of Health). In addition, the State Government should as a matter of urgency pay outstanding leave grants, arrears of promotion to Nurses that were  omitted at the State level as well as to all Nurses in the Local Government level which dates back to 2012, Rural Posting Allowance (RPA),  Specialty Areas Nursing/Call Duty Allowance including Midwifery and the Teaching/Research Allowance for Nurse Educators and Clinical Instructors".

Furthermore, the NANNM Leader demand the State Government to immediately correct computation of CONHESS arrears for Retired Nurses at the Hospitals Management Board, Payment of gratuity, Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and the Training and Retraining of Nursing Staff in Akwa Ibom State.

The State NANNM Chairman further disclosed that the Association has applied all measures to make Government listen to them, and submitted that the Union would have no other option than to resort to industrial action if their demands are not met including employment of more Nurses.

He added that very soon, the Union is going to take decision regarding this development if the State Government continue to give us deaf ear as we are tired of "promise and fail approach" by the government. Note, if you complain, they (government)  say you are playing opposition, now we are ready for action to fight for our right welfare as enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, He concluded.

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