The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nurses

  • Assist nurses in private practice, govt urged

    The Federal and state governments have been urged to offer interest-free loans to nurses in private practice.

    This, according the Chairman, Association of General Private Nursing Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPNPN), Lagos State branch, Mr Olusola Oyebode, will promote the profession and strengthen the sector.

    Over 60 per cent of nursing care, he said, is provided by nurses in the private sector, adding that government assistance to the sector in getting more equipment will discourage people from medical tourism.

    Oyebode said the shortage of nurses was due to the high cost of training, stressing: “It is like training other medical personnel. To establish a school of nursing, people need to have basic tools for training them.”

    The AGPNPN Lagos chair said nurses could shift some of their tasks to other less-qualified health workers to concentrate on core nursing care.

    Besides, task shifting is a common occurrence in advanced countries because of high demand for nurses.

    He said there were many areas in nursing, which could only be handled by professionals. She listed pre and post operative care, such as medical, surgical and maternal care as well as neonatal and paediatrics care as some of them.

    He said task shifting is a necessity because of inadequate workforce, stressing that the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards is that one nurse should take care of four patients.

    “Nurses can shift some of their tasks when they have other jobs, which can prevent them from having time to do core nursing care. So, they assign the tasks, which need no technicalities to less qualified health workers.

    “For example, nurses cannot delegate post-operative cases. But can instruct other health workers to remove or clean catheter, which is simpler and needs no technicalities. Then they can focus on the core patients’ management,” Oyebode said.

    He said there was the challenge of quackery due to involvement of non-professionals moving into core nursing care.

    He berated some professionals, who are trying to dictate the pace of nursing, describing this as ‘unacceptable’. “This is wrong as every profession has its limitations,” he said.

    The solution, he said, is for people to start doing the right thing.

    Moreover, there should respect for other professionals because everybody cannot be doctors or nurses.

    He said the patient, which is the end user, will benefit more if there is harmony.

    The level of private nursing care, Oyebode said, is satisfying because it knows its limitation, adding: “There is a standards and monitoring committee in place. So, they all know when and where to refer patients to.

    “They all have to operate within the confines of the law. This has brought private nursing to the standard that is respected.”

     

  • Nurses suspend strike

    Nurses suspend strike

    Nurses have suspended their planned strike, following the understanding reached with the Federal Government over unified scheme of service.

    The General-Secretary of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), W. G. Yusuf-Badmus, said the proposed industrial action was suspended, as the process for the actualisation of the unified scheme of service was on course.

  • Nurses fault doctors strike

    Nurses in the country have condemned the ongoing strke by the medical doctors.
    They urged government to stop all doctors on it’s pay roll from establishing private clinics.
    Besides, the nurses under tbe umbrella of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) also condemned what it described unethical behavior or practice of Medical Practitioners whereby in-patients are compulsory discharged against their wish whenever Nigeria Medical Association calls for industrial action.
    The Nurses in a statement issued on Sunday and made available to newsmen in Abuja expressed displeasure over the strike, stressing that NMA always wants to make it appear that the patients left the hospital because doctors are on strike.
    The statement which was signed by Mr. Yusuf-Badmus, General Secretary, NANNM stressed that, “the public at large must be made to know that most in-patients are in the hospital for comprehensive healthcare (physical and psychological) and are being taken care of by the nurses and other health professionals, except those that have been booked for surgical procedures or surgical operation.
    ” The medical practitioner therefore, has no moral nor ethical justification to compulsorily force them (in-patients) out of the hospital to make the hospital empty because doctors are on strike.”
    He explained further that “Anti natal care, deliveries and post natal cares are handled by skilled nurses or midwives even where we have or do not have medical practitioners. Most hospitals or health facilities in Nigeria are run today without medical practitioners especially in the rural or semi urban areas where the medical practitioners have distained and refused to work.
    “The public are therefore encouraged to attend and patronize the hospitals because other health professionals such as skill midwives, the accident and emergency (A & E) Nurses, intensive care nurses, orthopedic nurses pediatric nurses etc. including the medical laboratory scientists, medical record officers, the radiographers the physiotherapists and pharmacists etc are on ground to attend to their health needs.”
    It further stated, “All government health workers should have a unified salary scales. Difference should be entry/exit points and professional/peculiar allowances of the different cadres of workers. This will go a long way in checking and prevent unhealthy rivalry and end to the incessant strike action, that leaves the innocent patient to suffer.”

  • Alleged sale of day-old baby lands nurses,native doctors in trouble

    Alleged sale of day-old baby lands nurses,native doctors in trouble

    A syndicate alleged to specialise in the sale of body parts of day-old babies by conspiring with nurses in hospitals has been smashed by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command. The nurses are believed to cause the death of the babies shortly after they are born, after which they sell the bodies to a syndicate consisting of ritual killers and native doctors.

    Rilwan Saula (39) was arrested along with five other suspects, namely Bolaji Fagbemi (38), a trado-medical nurse in training; Lasisi Olayinka (40), also a nurse in the same hospital as Olayinka; Alhaji Surajudeen Faronbi (55), who claimed to be a native doctor; Taofeek Abidakun (41), another native doctor who claims to buy human parts to prepare his medicine and Akindele Majiyagbe (50), who insisted that the parts found with him were those of a bird and not a human being.

    A police source told our reporter: “On the 18th of June this year, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Abubakar Manko, got information that some criminals comprising a native doctor and two nurses at a certain hospital in Alagbado, Lagos had murdered a day-old baby and were about to use the body for money making rituals.

    “As a result, CP Manko directed the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP), to act immediately. Hence, operatives led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ade Adetarami were deployed there to play along with the criminals, which led to the arrest of a native doctor named Alhaji Sikiru. Also arrested were Bolaji Fagbemi and Lasisi Olayinka, while the corpse of the day-old baby girl was found with one Saula Rilwan, a trado-medical nurse. The suspect confessed to the offence and took SARS detectives to the affected hospital.”

    The police source said that Saula further stated that a nurse in the said hospital, named Bolaji Fagbemi, sold the baby to him for money making ritual and claimed that it was with the knowledge of the management of the hospital.

    The confessions of Saula was said to have led to the arrest of other suspects, namely Alhaji Surajudeen Faronbi, who was allegedly arrested with two human heads, Taofeek Abidakun, who was said to have been arrested with one human head and one Akindele Majiyagbe.

    The source further revealed that further investigation was still being conducted into the matter while others who were still at large, especially those that are based in Abule Egba, Ahmadiyya, Ijaiye Ojokoro and Sango areas, were being hunted by the police.

    The police source said the corpse of the day-old baby was being kept in the mortuary along with other human parts that were found with the suspects, saying that they would be helpful in the prosecution of the suspects.

    In his confession, Saula, one of the suspects, said: “I am a 39-year-old native of Yewa, Ogun State. But I reside at Church Street, Ijaiye Ojokoro, Alimosho Local Government Area. I have three children.

    “I sell herbs at Agege Main Market. In 2005, police arrested us and I left the market and became an alfa. I cure stroke and any illness that orthodox medicine cannot cure.

    “I started selling human parts at the time I was selling herbs. At that time, two boys came to me to learn work, but I did not accept them. The two boys came last month and said they needed human parts. They said they had gone to a native doctor but they needed two heads for the medicine to work. They gave me N20,000, but I did not do it.

    “Bolaji, my customer, who works as a nurse in the hospital, called me and said that she had the body of a baby who had just died. I asked her where the mother was and she said the mother had given it to her to throw away. She said the baby was only 24 hours old.”

    On her part, Bolaji, a native of Ikire, Osun State, said: “I am a nurse. I gave him (Saula) the baby. I was given the baby by the mother to throw away. I am married with four children.”

    Asked why the baby in question died, Bolaji said: “I am a trainee nurse and I am not on salary. I am learning traditional nursing. Pregnant women give birth in the hospital. The baby was an imbecile and was sick. She was not normal.

    “The baby did not even cry when she was born. I did not collect money from him (Saula). The parents of the baby are Muslims and Saula is also a Muslim. Therefore I gave the dead baby to him to go and bury because the way Muslims do their burial is different from the way Christians do theirs.

    The third suspect, Yinka, said: “I am a trado-medical nurse in the hospital. I am nine years in trado-medicine practice. I am from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. I am the nurse that took delivery of the baby.

    “The baby died within 24 hours of delivery. I called the father on the phone and he told me that he was not around. He said I could call any member of the family. When the family member I called came, I told him that the baby was dead. He said he did not know the cemetery where he would bury the child.

    “I called Nurse Bolaji to know whether she knew a cemetery where the baby could be buried and she said she would help to throw away the dead child. He gave her N500 for transport.

    “When the director of our hospital came, he asked me why I did that without consulting him. He later asked me to give the body of the baby to the sister of the mother in his presence. The director then told Bola to help them throw the dead baby away since she claimed to know the dustbin where the child could be thrown into.

    “The baby had come out alive, but she had three toes. I told the mother the position of her baby and also called the husband to come and see the baby’s fingers. I told the husband to come and take the child to a better hospital. Water and blood were coming out of the child’s nose and mouth, but the father said I should leave it to God.”

    The fourth suspect, Taofeek, said: “I am a native doctor. I have never bought human parts. I am from Igbese in Ogun State, married with five children. I am a spiritualist with two wives. I practice in Ogun State.

    “I sold igun (vulture) parts, not human parts.”

    The fifth suspect, Majiyagbe, said: “I am 50 years old. I am just a bricklayer. I am married with three children. I gave Saula N18,000 to buy a live partridge to do a job for me. But when he was arrested, he mentioned me as one of his customers because he had been threatening to kill me.

    The sixth suspect, Faronbi, said: “I am 53. I am from Abeokuta, Ogun State. I am a traditional doctor. I cure long-term wounds and madness. I inherited the job. Any human bone bought from the market can be used to prepare powerful drugs that can cure difficult illnesses.

    “I bought pieces of heads two times from Saula. The first time I paid N4,000 and the second one was N4,500. The total money I gave him was N8,500. I have been buying pieces of human heads to make traditional medicine.

    “I have never bought the full head of a human being. I buy the eyes, ears, noses, tongues and necks. They are very cheap.”

  • Rotary holds works for nurses, midwives

    The Maternal and Child Health Committee of the Rotary Club of Trans-Ekulu in Enugu Urban, has held a one-day sensitisation and review workshop for selected nurses and midwives from the five hospitals that received medical equipment and consumables from the club.

    The workshop which held at Ofuobi Africa Centre, Independent Layut Enugu Friday last week, attracted distinguished personalities. They include former Head of Service and Secretary to the State Government, Chief Clement Okwor who is also one of the contact persons for the project. Others are the medical consultant to the project, Dr. George Ugwu, a consultant gynaecologist from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, the outgoing president of Rotary Club of Trans-Ekulu, Dr. Johnny Egbonu, The Chairman of the Maternal and Child Health Committee of the Club, chief Eric Igweshi, among others.

    In his opening remark, Chief Igweshi said that the review meeting was to look at the issues that millitate against safe delivery and how they are being handled in those hospitals and to situate. It will help them find out if the reason why some medical equipments were donated to those hospitals  by his committee in collaboration with some clubs in Germany and Austria is justified.

    In his words, “we want to X-ray all efforts being made in your hospitals to ensure safe delivery. We want to see how all transactions that lead to maternal and child health mortality are being handled in your hospitals, how issues like human, environmental, structural, equipment, drugs  and other factors contribute to ineffective or effective handling of safe delivery.”

    According to him, “we invited nurses and midwives and other supporting staff from the five hospitals we selected as a pilot project, to brainstorm with the medical consultant and other project officers on how the equipment we supplied are being utilised and to also know other areas we can be of help”. He pointed out that indications are that the purpose of donating those equipment has been met.

    In his lecture, the medical consultant Dr. George Ugwu, declared that issues concerning maternal and child health is very sensitive and must be handled with utmost care by the medical personnel concerned as any negligence could prove fatal.

    According to him, the issue of monitoring pregnant women from the point of booking in for anti-natal to delivery is very important. “The issue of monitoring is very important from the day the woman booked in to delivery as any negligence could cause the dead of the mother or the child or both”, he warned.

    He said that for adequate attention to the given to maternal and child health issues, few critical points must be noted. “Doctors and other medical personnel must live near the hospitals, there should be adequate monitoring of the woman, there must be timely refferal before the case gets bad, awareness must be created for mothers to understand their roles for safe delivery, hospitals or health centres must be well equipped and personnel to handle such equipment must be properly trained”, he said pointing out that if there is need for CS, doctors should not waste time in recommending for that as “a few delay could be fatal”.

  • Be more dedicated, nurses urged

    Nurses and midwives have been charged to be more dedicated to their duties.

    Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Public Health Dr Yewande Adeshina said every profession, including nursing, is important in health care.

    She spoke at the nurses’ conference of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), with the theme: Nursing – Moving to the next level with best practices.

    The government, she said could not meet all the nurses demands, adding that every profession has one need or another which it wants the state to address. “Not all human organs need the care of nurses, some need other professionals, such as doctors, pharmacists and laboratory scientists for treatment and they make demands too,” she added.

    Dr Adeshina said issues relating to remuneration and workers’ welfare would be resolved by meeting with the government.

    She said some nurses worked with private facilities, thereby making extra income unlike other workers.

    However, nurses, she said were important because nobody could take their place in the sector.

    The guest lecturer, Deputy Dean Babcock University, Prof Joseph Aina, urged nurses to utilise the systemic problem solving skills that they have.

    He said their lack of knowledge to plan nursing care affects their job.

    Nurses, he said should play an important role in health teaching and maintenance.

    He enjoined them to be united, saying ,“Some nurses are fond of hating their younger colleagues.”

    Head of LASUTH Nurses, Mrs Modupe Shode, said nurses need continuing nursing education to achieve best practices.

    “We take quality as the best because we are the first contact to the patients. When we see patients we do a quick assessment and initiate care immediately.

    “Nurses don’t need to wait for the doctor, so that they don’t lose any patient. If a patient needs sunctioning, we will clear the airways and start giving him oxygen.  We will take the vital signs. Even if there are no beds, we can do that in the car because we don’t want people to die,” she added.

    Mrs Shode said attitudinal changes cut across, adding that nurses have changed. “At LASUTH, we have said it is a disciplinary offence if a nurse is rude and we have not recorded any case yet,” she added.

    Nurses, she said should shift some of their tasks that do not require professional skills as there can never be adequate nursing because nurses can’t control the population, which keeps increasing by the day.

    “We need to shift some of our tasks that are not technical such as assisting a patient to go and have a bathroom bath, assisting a patient to urinate and hold a tray for someone to eat. This will allow nurses to concentrate on core nursing duties, such as given injection and medication, dressing of wound and taking vital signs, among others when they are with the patients,” Mrs Shode added.

  • More jobs coming for nurses

    More jobs coming for nurses

    The preventive and environmental health care management system says a lot about disease control. Experts are of the view that the subsector holds much prospect for nurses and midwives in Nigeria. They say this is the time for such workers to tap the opportunities in the area, writes AKINOLA AJIBADE

    FOR nurses and midwives, a window of opportunities has opened up in preventive and environmental health care system.

    The former focuses on disease prevention and health maintenance. It includes early diagnosis of diseases, discovery and identification of people at the risk of development of specific problems and counselling, among other interventions that could help in averting health problems.

    The latter has to do with keeping the environment hygenic to prevent the outbreak of dieseases, such as cholera and diarrhea.

    Experts argue that there are not enough health care professionals to work in these areas. They said health care service providers, such as nurses and midwives, have restricted themselves to hospital jobs where they work on schedules. They said many nurses and midwives are jobless because of their regimented lifestyle.

    They said the Red Cross, United Nations Children Education Fund(UNICEF) and a host of other international organisations do employ people to work as preventive and environmental health care providers, advising nurses to key-into these opportunties.

    A Nursing Consultant, Larry Obadan, said there are a lot of opportunities for nurses in preventive and environmental health care system, arguing that many countries are showing deep interest in these areas.

    He said: “ The world is moving towards preventive and environmental health care system. The developed ouuntries are showing more than a passing interest in these areas by providing a lot of money to tackle diseases.

    “Also, the developing nations are aware of the importance of environmental healthcare management.These are the opportunities, which thousands of unemployed nurses can tap into to earn a living.”

    He said the field and allied areas could provide jobs for between 500,000 and 600,000 nurses, adding that there are immense opportunities in nursing.

    He said nurses and midwives, who long to work as preventive healthcare officers, should move from house to house to tell people on how to manage their health, while those that are ready to offer environmental health care services need go to rural areas to do the job.

    He said Nigeria needs more than a million nurses and midwives to manage the primary health care system, stressing that there is a shorfall in the number of nurses in the country.

    Obadan, who is a legal practitioner and Labour Consultant, said there is a lot of mis-match in the medical profession in Nigeria, arguing that the development has affected nurses negatively.

    He alleges that doctors are frustrating efforts being put in place to employ staff nurses in Nigeria.

    “From investigation, doctors are employing auxillary nurses and midwives to work for them. They parade them as qualified officers, thereby jeopardising the chances of the trained nurses.

    Besides, the country is battling shortage of nurses and midwives, making it impossible to develop the primary healthcare system,” he said.

    A don at the Department of Nursing Science, College of Medicine at the University of Lagos (CMUL), Prof Boluwaji Fajimilehin, corroborated this assertion, saying the country’s 240, 000 qualified nurses and midwives are not enough.

    Fajimilehin said 136,000 of these are not registered, implying that many are working without regulatory approval. He said the country does not have enough nurses and midwives to cater for the sick.

    Citing data from a private outfit – the Integrated Human Resources Information System (iHRIS) – Fajimilehin said two or three nurses are made to work in a 30-bed ward in the morning, one or two in the afternoon, and only one at night. This, he said, requires employing more workers for the health industry.

    Also, a Matron with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the problems associated with the health care delivery system are enormous and therefore require more hands. She said nurses and midwives are in short supply globally, adding that Nigeria is not an exception.

    She said there are opportunities for people to work as professionals, auxiliary, dental or primary health care nurses and midwives.

    The source said people who have the qualifications would get jobs, in view of the openings in the sector.

    Her words: “There are a lot of job opportunities in the health sector. First, the issue of ageing nurses and midwives have opened up job prospects for people. Secondly, many of such workers are due for retirement. Thirdly, some have retired and need to be replaced with younger and stronger workers. Fourthly, many have travelled to Canada, among other countries, for better conditions of service.

    “The development suggests that more nurses and midwives are needed in the country.”

    She added: “The time has come for people to show more interest in nursing by taking it as a profession. They can do this by studying nursing at the university level to get more exposure on it. Holders of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing are going to have an edge in the labour market over those with only School of Nursing Certificates.

    “People must develop interest in nursing from the beginning, if they want to achieve success. When this happens, the country would have enough nurses and midwives to work with and further reduce the pressure on the labour market.”

    She advised people to go for career talks to know their areas of specialisation in nursing science, adding that each area has the capacity to provide jobs for practitioners.

    “There are various cadres of nurses and midwives ditto job opportunities. Many are unemployed now because the government does not create the enabling environment for the healthy sector. The best thing for the government to do is to employ more workers in the healthcare delivery segment. The Federal Government has not done much in this area. The Lagos State government is trying its best to take nurses and midwives out of the employment market. Once efforts are geared toward the creation of jobs for medical practitioners, the better for their families and the economy in particular,” she said.

    Also, a Nursing Consultant, Mrs Adenike Amao, said the country was yet to comply with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) directive of one nurse to a maximum of 10 patients. Mrs Amao said a nurse or a midwife attends to a minimum of 100 people in Nigeria, arguing that they were being overworked.

    She said Nigeria’s health care delivery system is poor, going by the WHO Report on 57 countries facing critical shortage of health workers.

    She said: “The report indicates that Nigeria’s shortage has increased three times from 44,000 in 2006. This would be the seventh highest shortage of the 57 crisis countries. Giving this, the country has a shortage of over 130,000 workers, a development that is not good enough for a country that is planning to attain the goal of Health for All by 2015. For Nigeria to attain that goal, the government must employ medical practitioners, in addition to the provision of infrastructure for the sector.”

    According to her, Nigeria must clear the deficit first before it can achieve meaningful growth in the area of healthcare services.

    “After clearing the deficit of over 130,000 workers, the government still needs to employ more hands to foster growth. By my estimation, Nigeria would need about a million nurses to achieve growth. The reason is because there are many towns and villages that are finding difficult to have access to qualified nurses and midwives. In those areas, people patronise fake health service providers. This has resulted in untimely death”, she said.