Japa: FG, Nurses Bicker Over New Verification Guidelines

The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives(NANNM), has threatened a showdown with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria over what they described as an infringement on their basic human rights as a result of the new guidelines for verification of certificates by the council.

This is coming a few days after the body lamented the deactivation of the NMCN verification portal in December 2023.

The nurses alleged that the deactivation of the portal by the council was an attempt to hinder their freedom to pursue career opportunities abroad.

They also said it was not unconnected to the plan of the Federal Government to reduce the number of health workers traveling out of the country to seek greener pastures.

The NMCN is the only legal, administrative, corporate, and statutory body charged with performing specific functions on behalf of the Federal Government to ensure the delivery of safe and effective nursing and midwifery care to the public through quality education and best practices.

The NMCN issued a memo dated February 7, 2024, revising the guidelines for requesting verification of certificates for nurses and midwives.

The NMCN said eligible applicants must have a minimum of two years post-qualification experience from the date of issuance of the permanent practicing licence.

The memo was addressed to all state ministries of Health, university teaching hospitals, specialist and federal medical centres, NANNM headquarters, universities offering nursing programmes, colleges of nursing sciences, schools of nursing and midwifery, all post-basic nursing programmes, and all nursing and midwifery councils’ zonal offices.

The memo signed by the Registrar of the council, Dr Faruk Abubakar, read in part, “A refundable fee per application shall be paid for verification to foreign boards of nursing as specified on the portal. This shall cover the cost of courier services to the applicant’s institution(s) of training, place of work, and foreign board.

“Eligible applicants must have a minimum of two years post qualification experience from the date of issuance of the permanent practicing licence. Any application with a provisional licence shall be rejected outright.

“The council shall request a letter of good standing from the chief executive officer of the applicant’s place(s) of work and the last nursing training institution attended and responses on these shall be addressed directly to the Registrar/CEO, NMCN. Please note that the council shall not accept such letter(s) through the applicant.”

The council also stated that applicants must have active practicing licences with a minimum of six months to the expiration date, and processing of verification applications would take a minimum of six months.

It added that the implementation of the guidelines takes effect from March 1, 2024.

However, the revised guidelines have sparked reactions from nurses.

According to them, the directive is an infringement on their basic human rights and is embarrassing to the profession.

A flier circulated on social media indicated that nurses in Lagos would stage a protest against the directive on Monday at the NMCN office in Yaba.

A nurse identified as @Nrs_Danie on X (formerly Twitter) posted the flier of a planned protest in Abuja.

He wrote, “Dear Nurses/Nigerians, There is a peaceful walk to NMCN coming up on the 12th of February 2024 in Abuja. Kindly donate anything you can, financially or in items listed in the flyer…the account number is there. No gree for anybody! #NotoNMCNVerificationrule.

“Me I have sent my financial support, I will keep using online platforms to raise awareness and support because this is everyone’s business! Kindly retweet and let it go far, tag anyone or everyone you know!”

Another nurse using his X handle @KelvinOssai said, “When the government succeeds in using NMCN to tie Nigerian nurses down, they will come for other professions. They will not make plans to improve the hospitals or the salary of nurses and other health workers, oh, but they are concerned about your license!!! License that you have earned and paid for. #NotoNMCNVerification #NotoNMCNverificationrules #NotoNMCNVerificationrule.”

On his part, the Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of NANNM, Toba Odumosu, said, “We reject that directive outright, but we will be meeting soon on the way forward on the matter.”

The Secretary of the Oyo State chapter of NANNM, Aina Oluwasegun, said, “The state executive members will meet soon to decide on the directive.”

The President of the association, Michael Nnachi, speaking exclusively with the Punch on Friday, Nnachi said the council’s directive was meant to frustrate nurses from seeking greener pastures.

He stated, “The directive is very embarrassing. It’s an attempt to frustrate the nurses from seeking greener pastures and self-development. It is embarrassing but we will take measures to look at it.

“The directive has consequences on practicing nurses, student nurses, and even those who aspire to be nurses; this is discouraging, and it will discourage them. It is frustrating.”

When asked about addressing the issue, he said, “At the leadership level, we need to come together and discuss. It is not a personal decision; we need to look at issues holistically, and then we will make decisions on that. It is something that concerns every nurse; it is not something that an individual will decide on. We all need to look at the directive.”

Nnachi, however, urged the Federal Government to provide a comfortable working environment and better pay for nurses to reduce brain drain.

Recall that over 75,000 nurses and midwives have reportedly emigrated from Nigeria within five years. The mass exodus of nurses has worsened an ongoing shortage of health workers, and poses significant threats to the healthcare delivery system, leading to limited access to care for many people.