Nurses want retirement age increased to 70 years

The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has called on the Federal Government to increase the retirement age of nurses from 60 to 70 years.

President of NANNM, Nurse Mike Nnachi, who made the call at the flag for 2021 International Nurses week in Abuja said this became imperative as about 50 per cent of the workforce in the health delivery system are nurses and needed to be encouraged and motivated.

He noted that despite the passion of the nurses to deliver qualitative healthcare, a lot of challenges abound as insecurity is one of the challenges hindering the effectiveness of Nurses.

According to him, “Nurses have become an endangered species, one of the Nurses in Ogun was kidnapped, two are missing in Kaduna, up till now, we don’t know their whereabouts.

“We are no longer save, we are touched, we are disturbed that we are no longer safe. A nurse was attacked to the extent of causing clavicle injury. It is important to know that we have high working youths, most of our colleagues retiring and not replaced.”

“Nurses are vulnerable and have a high risk to contract diseases while many died treating Lasa Fever, Ebola and now COVID-19 thereby creating hardships for their families.”

“To ensure universal access to health and to ensure Universal Health Coverage is achieved, Nurses should be well motivated and enumerated,” Nnachi said.

Nnachi further added that nurses worked under the extreme condition as the ratio is supposed to be 1 to 4 but what is applicable is 1 to 20 and nurses are not well enumerated.

“High workload as a result of retirement and leaving the country for greener pastures is one of the reasons for lack of effectiveness because they are overwhelmed.

“Those who care should also be cared for, argued.

Meanwhile, the Director of Nursing, Federal Ministry of Health, Nurse Veronica Okolo said the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of Nurses adding that they are effective helpful and scarifies a lot but yet their remuneration is poor.

She added that several Nurses have left the shores of Nigeria and travel to other countries in search of greener pastures as if Nigeria is a major producer and exporters of Nurses.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Fake Website Asking N-Power Candidates To Verify If They Have Been Shortlisted For N30,700 Grant

CLAIM: A viral post on WhatsApp is asking N-Power candidates to verify if they have been shortlisted to receive ₦30,700 Batch C grant

VERDICT: FALSE. Registration can make you lose your WhatsApp account to scammers.

FULL TEXT: A viral post on WhatsApp is asking N-Power candidates to verify the status of their application and see if they have been shortlisted for the batch C cash grant…Nurses want retirement age increased to 70 years