Quackery and Auxiliary Nurses-The Virus Destroying Nigeria Healthcare Sector By Omolola Adams
The code of ethics of nursing profession enshrined by Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria clarified and established who is a nurse. Accordingly, a nurse is “a person who has received authorized education, acquired specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes, and is registered and licensed with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to provide promotive, preventive, supportive, and restorative care to individuals, families and communities, independently, and in collaboration with other members of health team. The nurse must provide care in such a manner as to enhance the integrity of the profession, safeguard the health of the individual, client/patient and protect the interest of the society. ”
Recently, some vibrant, dedicated and committed hard working nurses under the auspice of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) Ogun State Council in conjunction with the Nigerian police and members from the State Ministry of Health closed down seven hospitals and maternity centers for operating in the State without qualified Nurses. NANNM who was the brain behind the clamp down did some serious homework and investigations before visiting these facilities. These facilities delve in training quacks to provide unscientific nursing care in apprenticeship mode thus endangering the health of the populace. While some of these facilities are established by health practitioners who have clear knowledge on the position of the law and the risk involved in using quacks, others were never licensed health practitioners.
Ogun state NANNM Council was empowered as nurses under the oath with reference to the code of ethics mentioned above “safeguard the health of individual, client/patient and protect the interest of the society”. The action of the nurses is to protect the interest of the society, hence they deserved commendations. This is the type of information our respectable national dailies should boldly inscribed. This is a form of awareness and fight against quackery in the health sector, which all the professionals in health sector should embrace.
The clamp down on quacks and their trainers should not be seen neither as a supremacy battle nor a witch-hunt as suggested in some quarters but rather as an effort aimed at bringing sanity to the health sector. Recently the World Health Organisation (WHO) released the ranking of health facilities of 190 countries in the world. Nigeria was ranked an abysmal 187 out of 190 countries. One of the attributing factors is a systematic endorsement of quack by some professional individuals in the health sector. A nurse has a jurisdictional power to protect the interest of the society as enshrined in the code of ethics of nursing.
I am not here to exchange words rather to enlighten the public and those who have been spending their precious time to justify the need to continue to endanger the health of the good people of Nigeria by the training and use of quacks. Knowledge is power and media is a tool to disseminate accurate information and not to shrewd some grievances towards some professionals and interpolate issues to suit personal egocentric grandiosity. It’s childish, blackmailing and unprofessional for a medical doctor subscribing to acceleration of quacks called “auxiliary nurses ” when there isn’t such provision in the NMCN nor MDCN Act as opined by Dr Paul in his epistle. This manner supports illegality; professionals in the health care are responsible for this menace. Majority of the mushroom private clinics engaged in training of quacks which is a contributing factor to the worsening health index in the country.
Every professional in the health sector are regarded as entity, territory, and compound. No profession can encroach into another discipline such that only a medical doctor practice medicine; a pharmacist practice pharmacy, a nurse practice nursing and so on. These professionals have their strategic peculiarities in healthcare team. Anybody can bear those titles outside the health sector hence anybody using the title without undergoing stipulated and required education and practice in health sector is a quack.
In the Healthcare sector before an individual is called a nurse he /she must meet the above criteria defined in the code of ethics of nursing. Anybody using the title in the health sector without authorized education, skills, attitudes, specialized knowledge, registered and licensed by NMCN in any public or private health facility is an impersonator, a quack and a serial killer worse than Ebola disease.
In the acclaimed developed world where there is scientific advancement with international best practices, there are many cadres of nursing in the health care sector. They all belonged to a body that regulates and coordinates the education, and practices thus pave way for professionalism guided with ethics and etiquette and closed – door against quackery. The health care system in those countries is robust and schemes out any form of illegal health care provider. A registered Nurse received different education and practice from a licensed Nurse as well a Nurse practitioner differs from Nurse auxiliary, this creates vacuum for hierarchy with different responsibilities. Their activities such as educations and practices are modulated and coordinated by the constituted authority, through a formal training.
In Nigeria, it’s a different ball game. Presently, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria is the only authorized body that regulates, coordinates, the education and practice of nursing in health care. Registered Nurse is the only cadre present in Nigeria, hence it becomes an aberration and illegal when certain individuals are called “nurse” “auxiliary nurse ” without possessing the criteria highlighted in the code of ethics of nursing.
All Nigerians need to be proactive in matters relating to their health and health services by asking questions from their healthcare providers about the qualifications of those drafted to provide care for them. The citizens need to stop sending their wards to be trained as quacks as a trained quack is worse than a bubonic plague.
Omolola Adams RPHN
Public Health Expertise
