New Telegraph

Senate moves to tackle dearth of health workers

CHUKWU DAVID reports that the Senate is currently worried about the inadequacy of qualified health workers in Nigeria and has resolved to address the problem by processing for passage a bill seeking to establish a Federal School of Nursing and Midwifery in Igbeagu Izzi, Ebonyi State

 

There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is currently facing multi-faceted challenges in all aspect of her national life, with insecurity occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in the North and other parts of the country very evident.

 

Similarly, the country is also facing serious challenges in the health sector with inadequacy of skilled health professionals to address increasing health issues across the nation as most worrisome. However, government at all levels are making frantic efforts to proffer solutions to the problems through varied interventions in the health sector.

 

The legislative arm, particularly the National Assembly is also not sleeping in trying to proffer solutions to ameliorate the various challenges being faced in the health sector.

 

The Senate, in particular, has taken a bold step and resolved to facilitate the establishment Federal School of Nursing and Midwifery, Igbeagu Izzi, Ebonyi State, by passing the bill to that effect for second reading last week Wednesday.

 

The legislation scaled second reading in the Red Chambers, after the sponsor, Senator Samuel Egwu (PDP, Ebonyi North), led the debate on the general principles of the bill, and was thoroughly considered by other Senators.

 

In his presentation, Egwu noted that the bill which was read for the first time on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday 23rd November, 2021, sought to establish the Federal School of Nursing and Midwifery, Igbeagu Izzi and make comprehensive provisions for its due management and administration.

 

He also said that the essence of the bill was to establish quality institution that would provide specialised trainings aimed at grooming qualified nurses and midwives that would provide the required appropriate medical care to the teeming  population.

 

According to him, the nursing Institution had become imperative in view of the high demands for medical and allied health professionals in Nigeria, saying that, many reports suggested that the number of nurses and midwives in the country was not adequate to deal with the increasing population growth and the health care needs of the people.

 

Egwu pointed out that the problem had been further compounded by the rising wave of external migration of medical and allied health professionals seeking greener pastures in more developed countries. He observed that the admission capacity of the nation’s educational and other training institutions was highly limited and could not take up to 40% of the young population seeking admission to study Nursing, Midwifery and allied courses.

 

The lawmaker lamented that as a result of this deficit, the needed health professionals were not adequately produced, leading to crisis in the educational and health sectors.

 

Egwu noted further that, the scarcity of qualified nurses and midwives had encouraged the activities of quack nurses and untrained traditional health attendants in the local communities, whose activities had led to uncountable avoidable deaths, incapacitations and maternal health issues.

 

“Mr. President, my Distinguished colleagues, Igbeagu Izzi, where this institution is proposed to be sited is replete with numerous cases of avoidable untimely deaths and medical incapacitations due to the activities of quack medical personnel and untrained traditional health and birth attendants in the locality.

 

This is the case in many parts of the State and the country at large, where our people are suffering severe hardships due to absence of quality medical care caused by dearth of properly trained medical personnel and the unfortunate activities of quacks,” he lamented.

 

The former Governor of Ebonyi State, noted that the objectives of the school, among others, include: “to encourage the advancement of learning and to hold out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction, the opportunity of acquiring a higher education in Nursing, Midwifery and allied courses;

“To provide courses of study, training and research in Nursing, Midwifery and other specialties of Nursing leading to the award of Professional Certificates, Diplomas and other Post Basic Certificates and such other courses as may be approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and National Board of Technical Education;

To provide avenues for continuing education in Nursing, Midwifery and other specialties of Nursing; and to provide such services that are necessary and incidental to the objects of the College.”

 

Senator Egwu said further: “Mr President, Distinguished Colleagues, this bill is one great contribution to the aggressive interventions required to reverse the alarming shortage of critical health care practitioners which has resulted in a heavy strain on our health sector.

 

It will help in reversing the fast-rising personnel deficit in the country’s health sector by creating more access to higher medical studies in view of the large number of qualified candidates who are annually stranded in their failed attempt in gaining admission into higher institutions in Nigeria.

 

The enactment of this Bill will help in transforming health and educational fortunes in Nigeria to produce the desired medical manpower and expertise that Nigeria is yearning for.”

 

He assured the Senate that the host community of the proposed School of Nursing and Midwifery, Igbeagu Izzi is hospitable, noting that it has massive land mass and flat topography suitable for hosting institutions of this kind. “Igbeagu Izzi is a hospitable community in Ebonyi State with massive land mass and flat topography suitable for hosting institutions of this kind.

 

There is an existing infrastructure with several buildings that are available and ready to serve as take-off campus. The community and relevant state authorities are excited about the proposed college and are willing and ready to provide any additional size of land space that may be required for siting the institution,” he said.

 

All the Senators who contributed to the debate supported the establishment of the School of Nursing, Igbeagu Izzi, as all of them unanimously voted in the affirmative, and the bill scaled second reading.

 

Meanwhile, a total of five bills scaled second reading during the same plenary. The bills sought to establish Federal Polytechnic Dange, Sokoto State and National Agency for Ethics, Values and Integrity Compliance.

 

They also provided legislative framework for the establishment of Nigerian Television Authority College, Jos; Federal School of Nursing and Midwifery, Igbeagu and Federal College of Agriculture, Obot Akara, Akwa-Ibom.

 

The bills were sponsored by five senators: Danbaba Ibrahim, Patrick Akinyelure, Istifanus Gyang, Samuel Egwu and Stephen Ekpenyong. Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, referred the bills after consideration to the Committees on Tertiary Institutions and TetFund; Establishment and Public Service Matters, Information and National Orientation, Health (Secondary and Tertiary) and Tertiary Institutions and TetFund. The committees were all given four weeks to report back to the senate in plenary.

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