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Tag: nurses

  • Command nabs nurses for allegedly selling baby 

    Lagos State Police Command has nabbed two nurses working at Trinity Clinic, Meiran, Lagos, for allegedly selling a woman’s baby and deceiving her that she had a stillbirth.

    It was gathered that the nurses, Mrs. Marbel Onochel and Dorcas Omitogun, allegedly sold the baby for N350,000 to Mrs. Helen Okoh, a resident of Ajah in Lagos.

    The police have also arrested her.

    The suspects were alleged to have told the baby’s parents that it died and they buried the stillborn to save the family the trauma.

    Besides allegedly engaging in child theft and trafficking, it was learnt that Onochel, a Delta State indigene, also ran an illegal traditional hospital at Meiran.

    Trouble, however, reportedly started after the woman’s family insisted that they wanted to see the body, but the suspects could provide it.

    The Nation gathered that when the family insisted on seeing the body, the nurses claimed that the baby’s head was bad, prompting the family to report at the police station.

    Read also: Police arrest suspected serial killer, cultists 

    It was learnt that the suspects were arrested and during investigation, they confessed to have sold the baby to Mrs. Okoh.

    It was gathered that Onochel kept N250,000 from the sale and gave Omitogun N100,000.

    During interrogation, the woman who bought the baby said she was desperate for a child because she was unable to conceive, as she had fibroid.

    Confirming their arrest, police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), told The Nation that the baby had been recovered from the buyer.

    He said: “We have recovered the baby, arrested the woman who bought the baby and the two nurses who conspired and sold the baby. The suspects will be charged to court.”

  • Lagos nurses urge govt to ban ‘illegal’ training

    Lagos nurses urge govt to ban ‘illegal’ training

    The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) as well as nurses in Lagos State have condemned the training of “Nursing Assistants” by the state’s Employment Trust Fund.

    The nurses gave the government 30 working days – with effect from March 12 – to ensure compliance with its demand.

    They said government’s failure may cause an industrial action by professional nurse in the state.

    Members of the association spoke yesterday in Lagos to redeem “their image”.

    NANNM said the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) is the only legal, administrative, corporate and statutory body charged with the performance of specific functions on behalf of the Federal Government to ensure the delivery of safe and effective nursing and midwifery servie to the public through quality education and best practices.

    NANNM Chairman Olurotimi Awojide said NMCN is also mandated by law to regulate the standards of Nursing and Midwifery education and practice in Nigeria.

    He said it reviews such standards, from time to time, to meet the changing health needs of the society (NMCN Registration, among others) Act Cap N143, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

    According to him, it is surprising that Lagos State promotes quackery by training “Nursing Assistants” through the state’s Employment Trust Fund.

    The NMCN, Awojide said, should determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become members of Nursing and Midwifery and review the standards regularly as circumstances may require.

    Explaining the steps taken to address what he called an anomaly, the chairman said when NANNM informed the state’s Employment Trust Fund about the illegality of their training programme, its response was that “it is not a nursing training”.

    Awojide said: “Its officials also stated that the content adopted is a general core curriculum, offering youth the skill sets required for catering to the non-medical needs of individuals. However, a thorough analysis of the workbook for the training showed that the organisation lied in its response to our letter. They are actually bastardising the Nursing profession by engaging in an illegal training.”

    Specifying the implications of the training, the Coordinator of the Federal Health Institutions Nurses in Lagos State, Comrade Oluyemisi Adelaja, noted that the auxiliary nurses would cause havoc the public would wrongly ascribe to nurses.

    Another NMCN official, Shabba Johnson Adetokunbo, alerted the public that its executives have the mandate of nurses in Lagos State (in Federal, state, primary and private health institutions) to ask the Employment Trust Fund to stop the training of “Nursing Assistants” to avoid para the state’s health system.

  • Patients, nurses flee hospital as police declare doctor wanted for alleged robbery

    Patients, nurses flee hospital as police declare doctor wanted for alleged robbery

    VITALCARE Hospital became a shadow of itself in three days. The health centre which was arguably one of the thriving private hospitals serving people in the suburbs of Abuja, became a ghost of its self soon after its founder and medical director, Dr. Ola Solomon Jimade, was declared wanted for alleged armed robbery.

    On Tuesday, police declared Jimade, a medical doctor, wanted over alleged involvement in armed robbery.

    According to the police, Dr. Jimade who hails from Ife-Olukotun in Kogi State, is the leader of a dangerous gang that has robbed numerous citizens and snatched vehicles at gunpoint in Abuja.

    The police said four pistols with eight rounds of live ammunition and a face mask, which was carefully hidden in a bag in the office of the doctor were recovered during execution of a search warrant in the suspect’s hospital.

    The Nation gathered that patients and workers had fled from the hospital even before stern-looking policemen arrived to seek information from residents of the Kubwa Phase 3 neighbourhood, where the hospital is located.

    When The Nation visited the hospital around 10:30am on Friday, some of the residents wore a quizzical look that betrayed anxiety and suspicion over ongoing police investigations of the suspect’s activities.

    The hospital’s white gate was left ajar, after the its staff reportedly took to their heels for fear of being implicated in their director’s scandal.

    When our correspondent made her way into the reception building which also houses the observation room, laboratory and pharmacy, it looked like a place that had just been raided or deserted in a hurry. There was no activity there neither was there any member of staff in the once busy hospital that supposedly offered paediatric, trauma, gynecology, optical, dental and emergency medical services.

    The hospital’s number, 08091280370, found to be registered in Dr. Ola Jimade’s name, remained switched off.

    When The Nation contacted the President of the Nigerian Medical Association  (NMA), Dr. Mike Ogirima, for information about the suspect, he said: “We are still trying to confirm if he is one of us and when we do, we will take holistic measures. If he is found culpable, he would be rusticated from the association and that means that he won’t be able to practice again; if he is found wanting, he would be delisted.

    “When we confirm that he is one of us, there is a tribunal: The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) which is the equivalent of a High Court. He would be tried by the Council and also tried in the other court which will make it a multiple trial.”

    In an exclusive chat with the spokesman, FCT Police Command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, he said: “We are still investigating the matter and we are reaching out to necessary authorities to help track him down.”

    He also said some victims of the gang have been coming to the Command  to talk about their traumatic experiences.

  • Nurses call for inclusion in FG’s health policy formulations

    Nurses call for inclusion in FG’s health policy formulations

    The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives ( NANNM ) has called for its inclusion in the formulation of Federal Government’s health policies.

    The National President of NANNM, Mr AbdulRauf Adeniji, made the call on Wednesday in Ibadan in an interview.

    He said that inclusion of nurses in policy formulations would give the professionals a sense of belonging and lead to improved services in the health sector.

    According to Adeniji, there is a lot of unhealthy rivalry within the health sector between major players, adding that this must be stopped before it lead to disruption of activities.

    “The health sector is bedeviled with a lot of challenges that we are all living witnesses to. This in-fighting was caused by lack of inclusion of nurses in policy formulations.

    “This in-fighting has plagued the sector with all manners of industrial strikes and counter strikes among key players of the health sector.

    “This has not allowed the glittering aspect of the health sector to manifest in Nigeria. The federal government has to go back to the drawing board and begin to adjust.

    “The role of the nurses is pivotal in the health sector. How can a key player be left out in the scheme of things.

    “We understand that health care delivery system entails working in collaboration with others to meet the objectives of giving care.

    “We adhere to the rules of relationship in all ramification. So nurses should never be seen as errand persons among health workers,” he said.

    The president listed other challenges facing the sector to include: underfunding, lack of infrastructure, salary delays and salary shortfalls and cancellation of training programmes for nurses.

    Adeniji also tasked the legislative arm of government on health care laws that would take consumer rights into consideration.

    “Consumer right is not adequately protected in Nigeria and healthcare consumers do not see themselves as stakeholders,” he said.

    According to Adeniji, nursing has come a long way and nurses should continue to avoid distractions from the good foundation of past nursing heroes.

    “They should nurture the foundation of nursing which our predecessors laid and view trends in nursing for innovations and breakthroughs.

    “This will be a springboard for the much sort after professional excellence in nursing and midwifery,” he said.

    NAN

  • Strike: How union officials chased nurses with cane

    Strike: How union officials chased nurses with cane

    Reporters’ diary of how nurses were chased out by cane welding union officials

    I went to keep a medical check up appointment on Thursday at a federal Teaching Hospital in Lagos. I left my house at about 6.30 am, got to the hospital about an hour later, but had to wait till about 11.00 am for my medical records file to be found. Some patients waited endlessly without getting theirs.

    After the nurse on duty checked my weight and I was waiting with others for our Blood pressure to be taken, she got a call that the strike by health workers has commenced and immediately packed the files.
    “Sorry I have to leave now. Our strike has started and union officials will soon be here to chase us out,” she told patients who have been waiting for hours to get a chance to see the doctors.
    The doctors who just resumed from their own strike did their best to salvage the situation by attending to the few they could without the assistance of the nurses.
    Some nurses who tried to complete what they were doing before the announcement of the strike were chased out by CANE welding union officials who threatened to beat them up.
    After managing to see the doctor, I could not book my next appointment as the record officials have also been chased out by the union officials.
    The doctors promised to do their best but it was apparent that there was not much they could do without the nurses and record officers.
    I left a crowd of dejected patients, many of whom left their homes before 6am to be early enough for their appointments.
    I am still haunted by the desperate expression on the face of a female patient who is recovering from stroke and managed to come alone to the hospital.
    Her medical file could not be found. She managed to move round the clinic pleading with the record officers to retrieve her file.
    The very hard working record officer who was obviously overwhelmed by the crowd he had to attend tried his best to sort out the files before he was chased out, but the files were nowhere to be found.
    How can doctors attend to patients without their medical records?
    The joke is really on Nigerians who have to attend government hospitals where they cannot get prompt treatment because the medical officers are either inadequate, do not have enough facilities to work with and have to resort to embarking on strike to get the government attention.

    Unlike most Nigerians, our leaders at the slightest opportunity jet out at our expense to get medical treatment.
    Who cares about others who cannot go abroad for treatment ?

  • Health workers, nurses begin industrial action

    HEALTH workers under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) have directed their members to shut down health facilities.

    It followed alleged failure of government to respond to their demands.

    The workers had issued a 30-day ultimatum for government to meet their demand and another seven-day ultimatum, which the workers said government has failed to respond to positively.

    The unions  are demanding the adjustment of CONHESS salary as done for CONMESS since January 2014, abolition of scale-to-scale promotion, payment of outstanding arrears of promotion, skipping and relativity and autonomy for teaching and specialist hospitals and other issues.

    Others include implementation of court judgements and review of retirement age from 60 to 65 years as done for the tertiary education sector.

    The workers declared what they called: “Operation Alligator Bite”, asking members to proceed on an indefinite and total strike from yesterday.

    Chairman of the Joint Health Sector Unions, Comrade Biobelemoye Joy Josiah, told The Nation on phone that the workers have voted unanimously to begin the industrial action from midnight yesterday.

    He noted that by today, “health facilities would have been shut down”.

    JOHESU is made up of Medical and Health Workers of Nigeria’ National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals and Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutes.

  • Ogun nurses bemoan personnel shortage

    Ogun nurses bemoan personnel shortage

    The Ogun State Chapter of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has urged the state to reposition the health sector and increase its personnel to improve physical and mental needs of patients, and attend to the overall wellbeing of nurses.

    Its Chairman, Comrade Roseline Solarin, who made this known in Abeokuta, the state capital as part of activities to commemorate this year’s International Nurses Week,  said nurses are the first point of contact in health services delivery and the heartbeat of health care service. Nurses, he said, play pivotal role in disease prevention, promotion and healing of both the mind and the body of patients.

    Solarin said it was worrisome that  Ogun State has about 3,000 nurses, including those at the state and Federal health institutions, as against 7,000 nurses it had five years ago to cater for about four million people. He  noted that many Nurses have retired and a few that were employed by the state do not match the number of those that have retired. “This has brought about gross shortage of manpower in our health facilities, coupled with the expansion of units in hospital. The nurses/patient ratio supposed to be one to four, but presently in Ogun State it is one Nurse to 20 patients, which is totally outrageous and unbearable,”Solarin said.

    According to her, lack of adequate security in most hospital poses a great threat to nurses in the state. He also identified lack of adequate equipment/and instruments to work with and where there are available, many of them have become obsolete, which have caused major challenges on service delivery in most general hospitals across the state.

    She pleaded with the state to do the needful to reposition the health sector, noting that out of five Nursing Schools belonging to the state, only one is functioning, while the other four have lost their accreditation.

    She urged the nurses to put more efforts into their profession in order to be relevant in their respective positions. She noted the importance of education in nursing practice, saying that some Nurses tend to hold on to previous knowledge and skills without making efforts to improve and maintain new ones.

    “Many Nurses nowadays are not willing to accept the challenges of staying abreast with education and development of new skills in their areas of nursing practice. They don’t make the move to forge ahead which is inimical to this noble profession,” she said.

    For the nursing practice in Nigeria to develop, the Nurses, she said, must rededicate their commitment to the professional ethics of nursing and acknowledge that their primary assignment is to the welfare of the clients, regardless of the client’s status. They must also participate in development of the profession through continuous education, research and clinical studies. “We nurses need re-orientation about our attitude to practice, profession, society and clients and then eradicate our resistance to change and global professional, clinical, technical, and theoretical advancement,” Solarin said.

  • Nurses decry state of hospitals

    Nurses, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), have decried the state of hospitals in the country.

    They lamented the dearth of facilities, saying it has put nurses and midwives at a crossroads, as they cannot perform their duties optimally.

    They urged the government to upgrade healthcare facilities in the hospitals.

    National Chairperson of the association Mrs. Margaret Olubunmi advised the Federal Government to provide adequate referral system, transportation facilities and proper maintenance of health facilities.

    She called for the training and retraining of nurses and midwives, noting: “It has been observed that some tertiary health institutions do not give room for the midwives to use their special skills of midwifery, such as palpation of pregnant mothers and taking delivery. “Midwives should be allowed to use their skills in taking care of mothers and children at all levels of health care in the country”.

    Mrs. Olubunmi, therefore, called on the Federal Government to invest and give attention to the Midwives Service Scheme to make it sustainable and attractive “to our teeming members who are willing to work and render their services anywhere in the country, provided they are offered decent work and social protection,” she added.

  • Doctors reject harmonised pay with nurses, others

    Doctors reject harmonised pay with nurses, others

    The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called on the Federal Government to shelve its planned harmonisation of salaries of health workers in the country.

    The association’s position is contained in a communiqué issued by President of NMA, Mike Ogirima, yesterday at the end of the 57th Annual General Meeting and Delegates Conference of the association, in Calabar, from April 24 to 29.

    It noted that although health workers faced many hazards in the discharge of their duties, their output could not be compared to doctors who performed the bulk of the medical services.

    “There is an attempt to harmonise the salaries and the Federal Ministry of Health is at the lead of that attempt, which is currently causing a lot of disharmony in the health sector.

    “Medical doctors are highly skilled and few in the country. The cut-off mark for medical students now is 280 and above. Everybody wants to accept that title of doctor in the medical set up and we are not against that.

    “What we are against is the fact that everybody cannot be equated to be equal. In the animal kingdom, all animals are equal; but some are more equal than others,” it said.

    The association said it was not against moves to enhance the welfare of other health workers, but insisted that relativity should be maintained.

    “We are not saying that the welfare of other medical workers should not be taken care of, but that relativity should be maintained when we talk of salaries of health workers in the hospitals.

    “The NMA is calling on government to evaluate different professionals in the health sector and audit the output they put at work.

    “With that, there will be more objective data and statistics to buttress our point, asking for maintenance of the relativity,” it added.

    The communiqué lamented the deteriorating state of infrastructure in public health institutions across the country and called on governments at all levels to place premium on developing the sector.

    It called on the Federal Government to be proactive by having a strong rapid emergency response team to handle outbreak of diseases, just as it stressed the need to resume local production of vaccines.

    On the outbreak of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis across the country, the NMA condemned the poor handling of the outbreak in some states.

    The NMA ratified the adoption of the association’s seal/stamp for medical practitioners to check quackery in the profession.

  • LUTH: Nurses protest non-payment of teaching allowances, others

    LUTH: Nurses protest non-payment of teaching allowances, others

    Nurses and Midwives at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, on Wednesday staged a one-day peaceful protest to demand the non-payment of their teaching allowances by the Federal Government.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the protest was a directive from the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) to all Federal Health Institutions in the country.

    NAN also reports that the protest was led by the NANNM executive, while nurses were also seen singing and carrying placards around the premises.

    The placards with various inscriptions read; “Federal Ministry of Health pay us our teaching allowance’’, “Stop stagnation’’, “Nurses are professionals that should be respected and not treated as slaves.’’

    Mrs Yemisi Adelaja, Chairman of the association, LUTH chapter told newsmen in Lagos that the protest was to again bring to the attention of the Federal Government the plight and suffering of Nigerian nurses.

    According to Adelaja, the deteriorating state of infrastructure, non availability of adequate medical consumables are situations that have progressively gone worse in recent times.

    He listed some of their demands to include discriminatory and selective implementation of policies by the Federal Ministry of Health on career progression for nurses and midwives.

    “Most of our health institutions today operate a nurse-patient ratio of one to 15 as against the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendation of one to four.

    “Inadequate manpower and dearth of highly skilled nurses specialist has greatly affected our clinical outputs and nurses health.

    “If the workload is on the nurses, it will definitely affect the patient’s health, because most times this affects the attitude of nurses due to pressure.

    “There are also cases of non-payment of promotion arrears and recommendation of teaching allowances of members on CONHESS seven to eight by most Medical Directors,’’ she said.

    The chairman, however, called on the Federal Government to prevail on the Federal Ministry of Health, its allies in the Federal Ministry of Labour and the IPPIS office to intervene.

    She said that their intervention would spare the country another round of industrial action which was capable of affecting the nation’s health sector.

    Mrs Fatima Shittu, the Secretary of the association, also called on the Federal Government to release all allocations meant for equipment and consumables, as this was becoming a major challenge.

    “Government should ensure that they monitor how money allocated to the ministry of health is being disbursed.

    “If funds are judiciously managed, our nation will become the centre of medical tourism and will take its right of place among the comity of nations on healthcare delivery,’’ she said.