Bisola David
The chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives in Kwara, Alhaji Aminu Shehu, has urged the state government to enhance the benefits provided to members.
Aminu made the request on Saturday in Ilorin, off-stage at a conference about the severe lack of medical professionals in the region.
Additionally, he asked the state government to hire additional healthcare professionals to keep up with the rising patient load in public healthcare facilities.
According to him, there are only 700 nurses in the state and for them to be sufficient and efficient in fulfilling their task, government needs tomemploy 3,000 more and also offer better welfare package.
“When we put pressure on the state government to raise our pay last year, the governor increased it from 60% to 70%, but he fell short of our demands because we wanted 100%. The governor hired more nurses the previous year, but as they were hired, they stayed for a while before leaving the service in search of better offers.
“We have come to the conclusion that raising salaries from 70% to 100%, improving welfare benefits, and paying hazard allowance are the best ways to address the issue.
He stated, “We have written to the governor, who asked us to provide the number of nurses in the state and the number needed to be employed.”
Aminu criticized the appalling scenario in Kwara, where one nurse cares for roughly 30 patients while there should only be one nurse for four patients, saying the change is alarming.
Further, he ordered that security personnel be present at different hospitals in order to quell the excesses of some patients and their relatives, who occasionally turn aggressive and disorderly after losing a loved one.
However, the labor leader commended Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for making an effort to alleviate the situation facing state health personnel.
Aminu urged citizens to vote for AbdulRazaq again so that he could build on the progress already made and so that they could continue to reap the benefits of democracy.
