The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives has called on the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory to, as a matter of urgency, implement the 25 per upward review of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure and hazard allowance. NANNM also called on the state governments to implement revised call duty allowance in their respective civil services for nurses and expedite actions in the implementation of the CONHESS to encourage nurses to stay back in the country to render services to the people. The association’s appeal is contained in a communique issued on Sunday at the end of its two-day National Executive Council quarterly meeting in Abuja.
President Bola Tinubu had in July 2023 approved the review of CONHESS for health workers in the Federal Public Service to tackle brain drain and guarantee industrial harmony.
CONHESS is a salary structure for pharmacists, medical laboratories, nurses, and other health workers in the health sector of the Federal Public Service.
Nigeria has been battling with the increasing exodus of healthcare professionals, especially doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, to developed countries.
Part of the communiqué read, “The NEC-in-session frowned at the non-implementation of an enhanced salary structure for nurses in the country among other issues ranging from the establishment of departments of nursing services in the federal ministry of health raised by the association to the government in different platforms and offices. “The NEC, therefore, appealed to the federal government to urgently look at these issues to forestall industrial disharmony.
“NEC in session lauded the federal government on the approval for the engagement of health fellows in the primary health centres across the 774 local government areas of the federation and called for the inclusion of nurses and midwives in the programme as the main stakeholders and generators of data in such facilities.” NANNM also called on states and local governments that are yet to implement 100 per cent CONHESS to do so without delay. “The NEC-in-session further expressed worry in the gross depletion of specialised nurses in health facilities of the federation and called on the nurses in diverse specialty areas in the profession for improved quality of care to the citizens seeking healthcare in the country to further reduce health tourism,” the communique added. NANNM President, Michael Nnachi, said the meeting also witnessed the training of over 300 top members of the group including chairmen and secretaries from all the branches of the country in the Automated Management System. Nnachi explained that the training was aimed at enabling the association to have a comprehensive authentic list of its members nationwide. According to him, the training is a kind of automated membership management system. “In the automated management system, we try to update ourselves to remain IT compliant in such a way that our members at the grassroots level should be able to register anywhere they are, not necessarily coming to the secretariat to do it. “The training is for members of the National Executive Council drawn from the chairmen and the secretaries of the 36 states and the FCT”, he said. Nnachi added, “We have over 300 members here participating in the training. We expect that the training will equally put in place reliable data concerning the numerical strength of nurses in Nigeria.
“Between now and the end of the month, we should be able to have a comprehensive numerical strength of the nurses and midwives in all the facilities in the country, which will equally help not only the association but the government in terms of planning.”
