The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Kwara State chapter has urged the state government to improve the welfare of health workers.
The Associations Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Shehu appealed on Saturday in Ilorin on the sideline of a forum addressing the gross shortage of manpower of medical practitioners in the state.
According to him, the state government needs to employ more health workers to meet up with the increasing number of patients in public health facilities.
He said that the state government must employ 3,000 more nurses as it currently has only 700 nurses in the state.
“Last year we mounted pressure on the state government to increase our salary and the governor increased it from 60 percent to 70 percent, but didn’t meet our expectations because we demanded 100 percent.
“The governor employed more nurses last year, but as he employed they spent some time and leave the service for a better offer.
“We now concluded that the solution to the problem is increment of salary from 70 percent to 100 percent, improve welfare package and payment of hazard allowance.
“We have written to the governor who asked us to bring the number of nurses in the state and number required to be employed,” he said.
Aminu decried the pathetic situation whereby one nurse attends to about 30 patients in Kwara when it should be one nurse to four patients, saying the development is worrisome.
He further demanded the presence of security operatives at various hospitals to checkmate excesses of some patients and their relatives who sometimes become violent and unruly whenever they lose their loved ones.
The labor leader however appreciated Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for trying to address the plight of health workers in the state.
Aminu called on residents to re-elect AbdulRazaq to enable him to consolidate the gains achieved so far and for the people to enjoy more dividends of democracy.
