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Nurses in the country have appealed to the Co-ordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, to ensure adequate investment in manpower and infrastructure to transform Nigeria’s health sector.
Secretary, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Lagos Zone, Toba Odumosu, made the appeal also urged the minister to ensure that budgetary allocation to the health sector aligned with the 15 per cent Abuja Declaration pact.
Heads of State of African Union countries met in April 2001 in Abuja and pledged to set a target of allocating at least 15 per cent of their countries’ annual budgets to improve the health sector.
According to Odumosu, the health sector has been grossly underfunded for years, leading to emigration of healthcare workers.
He also said Nigeria’s current system did not support professional development of nurses and midwives.
He, therefore, urged the minister to ensure that adequate manpower development and robust reward measures were put in place to discourage brain-brain in the health sector.
He advised the minister to remove disparities in salary structures of healthcare workers to give a sense of belonging, fulfillment and inclusion to all of them.
Odumosu said that disparities in salaries had led to series of strike by NANNM and Joint Health Sector Unions, noting that while adjustment was made for medical doctors, salary structures of other health professionals had yet to be adjusted.
He said that there was the need for a radical approach to Nigeria’s primary healthcare system development, noting that there were many non-functional Primary Healthcare Centres(PHCs) across Nigeria.
According to him, the non-functional PHCs were putting a strain on the secondary and tertiary healthcare.
