The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives has announced that its members will go on strike for three days starting Monday.
Mr Olurotimi Awojide, Chairman of the Lagos State Council of NANNM, stated on Friday that the warning strike was called to protest poor remuneration and working conditions in the Lagos health sector.
“Nurses will no longer bear the burden of a poorly resourced health care system,” Awojide stated. “We implore the public to see this strike as a fight for better care for them, as well as a fight to ensure that the healthcare sector is better able to serve them.”
“All of the requests we have made to the state government are to ensure that more nurses are not driven to dissatisfaction, which could lead to their departure from the service.”
He stated that the NANNM’s state executive council will assess the numerous challenges of nurses and all unresolved issues before the government on December 29, 2021.
“The association had engaged the government on these issues on several occasions, but the desired pace of outcome had not been achieved.” “In our opinion, the state government has yet to fully comprehend how incredibly difficult the situation in the health sector has been for our members, particularly since 2020,” he said.
Awojide stated that the continued migration of nurses to foreign countries had resulted in an acute shortage of nurses.
According to him, 496 nurses left the State Health Service Commission between 2019 and 2021, with less than 15% leaving due to statutory retirement.
“To put this in context, the commission only has about 2,350 nurses.” During the same time period, more than 200 nurses left the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.
“Over 80 have left the Primary Healthcare Board since 2020, leaving the health care system with 700 nurses and midwives,” Awojide said.
He went on to say that when the three-day warning strike expired, the association’s executive council would decide what to do next.
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