By Aderogba George

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), on Sunday tasked the incoming Minister of Health to be fair in his or her proposed plan, especially with the nurses.

Comrade Deborah Yusuf, Chairman, NANNM, FCT Chapter, made the call during a thanksgiving outing to usher in the 2023 annual nurses week and scientific conference.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association, on Friday August 11, observed Jumaat prayers as part of the activities to celebrate nurses week.

She said recently, nurses in Nigeria have been having so many issues and that one of such issues was the Japa syndrome, stressing that a lot of Nigerian nurses have gone out of the country.

Yusuf said that the most surprising aspect of it was that younger nurses who are newly coming into the profession have also joined in the migration.

She said that the bottom line of the nurses migration was as a result of poor and discouraging remuneration in the profession.

The Chairman called on the incoming minister of health to try and review the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (COHESS) of nurses, stressing that Nurses’ salaries had not been reviewed for many years since the approval at the initial stage.

She also called for a review of hazard, uniform and call duty allowances for nurses, saying that these were part of the reasons the nurses are leaving the shores of the country.

According to her, “if the government will sit down and review all the listed issues, the Japa syndrome in the health sector will be a thing of the past.”

She equally called on the government to give more recognition to nurses, adding that Nigerian nurses are not well recognised in their own country.

Yusuf further said that much more remuneration is given to nurses in foreign countries (abroad), which is also aiding the Japa syndrome.

“Nurses are given much more recognition abroad. They are the best hands over there so we want the government to give recognition to us because we are least appreciated.

“We believe that the incoming Minister will do the needful about that and extend the same to all healthcare workers and not to a particular body,” she stressed.

Earlier, she stated that the thanksgiving outing was significant because no lives were lost while carrying out their core duties in the nation’s health facilities.

She said that the association was in the church to appreciate and thank God for saving our lives even though nurses work throughout without much rest.

Yusuf said that they were in the church to also glorify God because they were not afflicted by diseases and infirmities of their clients, adding that whatever you are doing, you just have to thank God.

She, however, advised nurses to continue to put in their best at work despite the challenges on ground, adding that what they are doing is not unto man but unto God.

Pastor Azaki Nash, Senior Reverend in charge of Wuse 2 Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), prayed for the nurses and asked them to eschew bitterness amidst them to effectively perform.

The Clergy who took his Sermon from the book of Hebrews 12 : 12-15, stated that bitterness drains physically, discourage emotionally and destroys relationship.

“Bitterness defies the body, hinders blessings of God from reaching you, the health effect of it is that it causes hypertension, ulcer, mental disorder and reduces weight loss,” he said. (NAN)