The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives has called on the Federal Ministry of Health to regulate the migration of nurses and midwives to reduce brain drain which it said is impacting negatively on the Nigeria Health Sector.
The National President of the Association Comrade Nnachi Michael Ekuma made the call on Friday at a press conference to herald the 2022 International Nurse week celebration and Scientific Conference.
According to him, despite the commitment and sacrifices demonstrated by nurses and Midwives, they are yet to be adequately compensated, recognised, valued and respected so as to be given the pride of place in the society.
He further decried the shortage of nurses which he said is due to the mass migration for desirable compensation and reward for service delivery, lack of decent work environment, poor staff renumeration and brain drain, no welfare packages amongst others.
He therefore called on the government to invest in nursing workforce and consider special salary package for nurses and midwives to address brain drain
On her part, the second Vice President of the Association Comrade Israel Blessing said there is shortage of nine hundred thousand (900,000) Midwives globally noting that this has made life difficult.
According to statistics, she said about a million of newborn die after birth while 2.6 million cases are still birth due to what she said are preventable causes.
Read: Address Brain Drain in the Health Sector NMA Urges FG
She further said in order to reduce or eliminate occurrence of these cases, there is need to increase the awareness of the roles of nurses and Midwives in the society.
She also called on the government to Foster the morale of Midwives through appropriate funding, functional equipment and effective remuneration.
The international day for the celebration of nurses and midwives is celebrated between May 6 to 12 of every year to mark the birthday anniversary of the founder of modern nursing Lady Florence Nightingale who was born of the 12th of May1820 and died on August 13th 1910.
