Employ Graduates to Address Nurses’ Shortage, NANNM Tells Ogun
The Chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Roseline Solarin, has pleaded with the state government to give automatic employment to graduates from the state-owned College of Nursing and Midwives to tackle the shortage of nurses in the state’s health sector.
Solarin said this at the town hall meeting organised by Community Development Association with Ogun Women on Maternal Health and Frontline Workers held in Abeokuta, the State capital.
The NANNM state chairman said the gesture would help the state to solve its current shortage of nursing staff in the hospitals.
The association also said there were only 215 nurses in the state serving in the 448 health centres across the state.
Solarin said a state like Ogun State with about three universities and five colleges of Nursing shouldn’t be lacking nurses.
She attributed the shortage of nurses as one of the causes of increased maternal mortality in the state, especially in the rural community.
She said “Give automatic employment to all midwives that graduated from the School of Midwifery in Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta.
“For a state like Ogun that has about three universities and five colleges of Nursing, it shouldn’t lack nurses.
“Encourage the community to sponsor their children for midwifery training and to serve as a bond to work in their rural communities for two years before they can be transferred.
“Start the midwives service scheme with better incentives to encourage more volunteers who are professional we midwives.
“Employ more midwives into all the 20 Local Government Areas through the local government service Commission or PHCD agency.”
Meanwhile, the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, has stressed the need for more nurses to be employed more nurses and midwives to reduce maternal mortality in the state.
The governor’s wife called on all stakeholders to come together to help improve health care delivery system in the rural areas.
Source: Punch Newspaper
