The National Association Of Nigerian Nurses And Midwives, NANNM, has called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the Nigerian health sector, and look into the security of health workers in the country.
The association similarly revealed that of the 17, 000 nurses that left Nigeria in the last 18 months, Cross River State alone lost 4000 nurses between January 2021 to date, rendering the state’s health sector almost ineffective.
Speaking in Calabar at the 35th annual conference, National President Of Nigerian Nurses And Midwives, Wale Olatunde who made this revelation, further drew the attention of government to the Covid-19 pandemic which he said Nigeria only survived by the grace of God.
On her part, Cross River State chairman of the Nigerian Association Of Nurses and Midwives, Josephine Bassey, who gave a further breakdown of the 4,000 Nurses who left Cross River State between January and now, informed that almost all of them left because they were unhappy with their respective work environment in the state. She called on the federal and state governments to address the challenges of nursing and by extension the health sector to help stem the ugly disengagement of nurses from the country’s health sector.