Posted on: Sat 13-02-2021

The Executive Governor,

Edo State,

Government House,

Dennis Osadebey Avenue,

Benin City.

Your Excellency Sir,

INFORMATION AND STATEMENT OF FACTS IN DEFENCE AGAINST INCLUSIVE GENERALIZATION OF ALLEGATION

RE: CORRUPTION IN EDO STATE HEALTHCARE SECTOR

The meeting of the Nurse Leaders/Elders in the state was convened on Monday, 8th February, 2021 for self examination and inventory of Nursing services in Edo State in response to the inclusive generalization of the allegation by the Executive Governor of Edo State Mr. Godwin Obaseki of notable corruption in the healthcare sector in the State while in a meeting with the State Hospitals Management Board’s and other medical doctors recently. We have over the years nursed our resentment of our perpetual exclusion from meetings of stakeholders in the healthcare sector and would have allowed it go as usual but our silence would have been misconstrued for consent and approval of the strong and untrue allegation. Medical doctors are not synonymous  to healthcare sector but rather a part of healthcare team, hence any exclusion of  nurses who are the most populous single professionals in the healthcare team each time stakeholders meeting were convened would only but be described as absurd and counter-productive.

  The silence and humility exhibited by nurses in the midst of oppression, denial and deprivation have but been taken for weakness but it should be considered otherwise for progress to be made in the sector. We have received catalogues of the complaints of the unconducive working conditions and environments from our members but rather than heating up the polity, we have always prevailed on them and advised them to be patient with the government.  We have without fail civilly engaged the government without significant headway or favourable outcome thereby pressurizing us to believe to reorder our priority on government/labour engagement and relationship.

   Among those complaints is the dearth of nursing personnel working in the health facilities in both the state and local government areas. The number of nurses and Midwives working at the Hospitals Management Board is 375; Ministry of Health – 22 and Local Government Areas -395 giving a total of 792 as compared to 744 nurses working at University of Benin Teaching Hospital  which equally is grossly inadequate and short-staffed. Nurses are thanklessly serving humanity in Edo State and have gotten themselves stressed out and burnt out by undertaking two shifts of sixteen hours at a go in order to ensure that no shift was left uncovered; on daily basis at most of the major health facilities in the state a nurse is left to attend to over fifty (50) and above patients/clients single handedly; an unscheduled visit to any of these health facilities would convince any doubting Thomas. Many of our nurses have died, some are sick and others ageing fast because of burn out. Others cannot improve themselves academically or otherwise because of the burden of work which ought not to be so.  His Excellency should not be misinformed by the presence of the intern nurses who are but only more of students at that level of service and are under the qualified nurses who are their preceptors. It is against the internship establishment rules for any of the interns to work independently. Moreover; their tenure is the only mandatory one year training after which they exit.  

 Sir, could corruption be associated and ascribed to nurses that have for many years been patiently languishing in deprivation through promotion denial?  Countless of our members have for years been denied their due promotion not because they are not qualified but for the only ‘offence’ that they are nurses. This kind of treatment from employer only engenders apathy and psychological defeat in employees. It cannot be corruption that nurses manage the available instruments at their place of work with great sense of responsibility and improvisation prowess, hoping that one day things might improve and there should be adequate provision of both the consumables and non-consumable materials. Most of the equipment and instruments have become obsolete and the needed materials for rendering services grossly insufficient, for example, masks, gloves and other component of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) even at this period of all kinds of infections and communicable diseases are inadequate.

    Your Excellency sir, it is our opinion that Nurses should be at all times recognized as critical stakeholders in all committees, meetings, boards and settings concerning healthcare in the State. Nurses cannot be corrupt when their heads are shaved in their absence; when meetings of healthcare sector’s stakeholders are held in their exclusion and utter disregard to their feelings, contributions and inputs. Healthcare sector service is a team work. No member of the team is more important than the other, supporting the aphorism that a tree cannot make a forest no matter its width, height and depth.

Your Excellency Sir, in response to your admonition and call for concerted effort towards the improvement in the provision of the expected healthcare services in Edo State have we made the above observations.  We wish therefore to further assure you of our age long readiness to serve in accordance with the tenets of our conditions of employment and services.  We are at your beck and call for dialogues and interactions to forge a way forward in the health sector.

On behalf of the entire nurses of Edo State, we say,  more wisdom and sound health to Your Excellency Sir!

God bless Edo State!!

Comrade Eseine Catherine                           

State Chairman

Dr Ikedi Onah                       
 

Principal Assistant General Secretary

State Secretary

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