Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) has approved internship programme for School of Nursing , Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Teaching Hospital, Park Lane . The Council has also approved indexing of Nursing students at the Colleges of Nursing , Park Lane and Awgu respectively, after 19 years..
Registrar of the Council Dr. Faruk Umar Abubakar, announced that on Tuesday, when he led a delegation of the Council’s Accreditation team on a courtesy visit on the Governor of Enugu state, Dr. Peter .Mbah in Government House, Enugu.
Pix: Registrar, ,NMCN, Dr Faruk Umar Abubakar
He told the Governor that they were on accreditation visit to the institutions. He said the team made some observations during their visits and the strengths of what they saw on ground were greater than the weaknesses.He appealed to the state government to give attention to the areas that needed attention.
Pix- The NMCN’s Registrar,Dr. Faruk Umar Abubakar, delivering a speech
Abubakar said the internship program is the training of interns so that more graduate Nurses will be trained at the University and at the same time add to the manpower . He said he had approved for the immediate effect recruitment of 50 Interns to work in ESUT.
According to the Registrar, training of Nurses in Nigeria is of three segments. “When you train Nurses in Nigeria, they are specialists in Midwifery, General Nursing and Public Health and the internship program will strengthen the health sector.
The registrar commended Enugu state Government for providing infrastructure at the Colleges of Nursing ,Park Lane and Awgu, which created a conducive environment for teaching and learning .. He also commended the state Government for approving the implementation of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), which is the latest salary structure for Nurses ,which he said, had not been done in the past. He said Enugu State Government had taken a giant stride to approve CONHESS salary for Nurses.
According to him, good salaries, provision of infrastructure , provision of human resources, , employment of quality Nurses, will help reduce migration of Nurses. He expressed optimism that in the next couple of years, the environment will be conducive and it will reduce “jappa syndrome”.
Pix- SSG , Prof Onyia ( m)
On revision of curriculum , he said Curriculum is revised every five years in line with global trend and the health institutions should upgrade their curriculum.
Pix- SSG, Prof Chidiebere Onyia
Responding the state Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, who was represented by the Secretary to the state Government,Prof Chidiebere Onyia, thanked the Registrar for the approval given to the institutions.
He said for 19 years there had not been a significant shift in Nursing space in the state’s Nursing institutions and in 365 days under Governor Mbah, “consequential thing happened. We cannot grow our economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion in 7 years , if we do not get the health sector right”, he said.
Governor Mbah assured that the gaps identified would be closed. He hinted that the state government had put measures in place to check mate them. “We are not playing around with your recommendations”, he assured.
Pix: SPA to the Governor on Health matters, Dr. Yomi Jaye(1st Left)
In an interview, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health matters, Dr. Yomi Jaye, described the approvals as “breakthrough” He explained that for years the students were not indexed, they mixed examinations . ” For 19 years they have not been writing exams. So, with the approval all the students will be indexed. The backlog will be cleared.
“One breakthrough there is the fact that our students Nurses have missed exams for years and he said it right here that all of them are going to be indexed. All backlog will be cleared, so that by next year, there won’t be any backlog. This is what had been standing for 19 years,” he said.
Dr. Jaye went further to say ,”you know this struggle started immediately His Excellency came into office and found out there were lots of accreditation gaps in the state department of Nursing, School of Nursing among other healthcare institutions.
“So, with this breakthrough,Parklane is now upgraded as a College of Nursing, Awgu is now accredited as a College of Nursing. His Excellency is committed to.making sure that the Nursing institutions ,the Medicat institution are up to standard to world class .I have always said the time this administration will come to an end , we are ,going to leave a wonder land for the kids of Enugu state., ” the Special Adviser said.
On exodus of medical personnel out of the country, Dr. Jaye said the State Government has done so much to provide enabling environment for teaching and ,learning as well as working in the health sector.
” We are providing infrastructure, we are also increasing the number of Nurses that we are producing. .
“We wanted 150 and we have 100 , if we are able to do 2 batches, which they have agreed to do in the three schools, we will have 600 Nurses .His Excellency wants to be producing 3,000 Nurses every year ,” Dr Jaye said.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama
