Posted on: Tue 13-10-2020

The practice of fraudulent medicine in order to make money or for gratification of ego and power which can best be described as "health fraud", is on the rise and gradually becoming a problem in Niger State particularly to the relevant authorities.

In a bid to check the ugly trend, the Ministry of Health has scrapped a Nursing Program offered for admission at Yelwa College of Health in Rijau Local Government Area.

During the visit, the Director Nursing Services of the Ministry, Nurse Hadiza L. Mohammed, represented by Ismail Abubakar Waziri, a lecturer with the School of Midwifery, Kontagora; disclosed that the program would only encourage quackery in the society because they are not trained as nurses and because Nursing Assistant's are meant to render a helping hand to nurses like tidying up Wards, going on errands among others.

According to her, this is why the Ministry is taking the step to address the situation before it escalates.

She then directed that the Institution should henceforth desist from advertising Nursing Aid as a program and should also withdraw any admission offered to any candidate who applied in that regard.

Nurse Jonathan Aaron who represented the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Niger State Branch, told the  Management of the private institution that the reason for the visit was to inform them about the illegality of advertising and offering the program as a course adding that the program does not exist on the curriculum of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria which is the only body mandated to determine what courses to be offered for admission.

While responding, on behalf of the Institution, the Admissions officer, Ahmed Mohammed Namasallaci, informed the team that the school would comply with the directives of the Ministry to expunge Nursing Aid from it's curriculum and would send out text messages about the cancellation of the program to applicants who have expressed interest in the course.

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