On February 7th 2024, the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) made a bold move in revising their guidelines for requesting verification of certificates for nurses and midwives who want to migrate and do nursing abroad.
The NMCN have said eligible applicants must have a minimum of two years post-qualification experience from the date of issuance of the permanent practicing licence. In addition, 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. Thereafter, processing of verification applications would take a minimum of six months.
The NMCN have stated, implementation of the guidelines takes effect from March 1, 2024
This move has come after the NMCN claim Nigeria is being deeply affected by the brain drain which has been occurring over the years. It is reported that up to 75,000 nurses have emigrated over the past 5 years and as a consequence it is hurting Nigeria's healthcare system.
The key challenge and pushback is the Nigerian Healthcare system does not provide nurses or midwives with; 1 -Jobs, 2 - Well-paid jobs, 3 - Well-paid jobs within their home vicinity. Plus conditions in most of the hospitals are not adequate for the nurses let alone patients.
The second key challenge is the fundamental right for any human, to want to migrate freely without impediment. In the case of most, if not all of the nurses - they have paid for their own education without any scholarship or government aide. There is a great fear that the processing verification taking a 'minimum' of 6 months can affect ones job prospects abroad due to bureaucracy and in one essence creates a channel for corruption.
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives are understandably in an uproar by this new guidelines and are protesting, as they believe their freedom is being hindered.
Nigerian Government Healthcare Investment
Something needs to give in this tug of war, and it fundamentally comes down to the Nigerian Government performing an up-haul in the healthcare industry which would see better working conditions, better pay, more available jobs.
In December 2023, under President Tinbu's 'Renewed Hope' agenda, he has claimed his administration is prioritizing and improving Nigeria’s health sector through massive investments and the allocation of increased funds to the sector in the proposed 2024 budget. The President made this declaration at the unveiling of Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and the signing of the Health Renewal Compact by Federal, State Governments, and Development Partners.
Conclusion
We hope to see the new guidelines overturned as we believe, that it will keep people in a lower income bracket, and/or unemployed unnecessarily. Over the years, we have witnessed how inflation is affecting living costs for the average Nigerian, plus the constant use of generators for the basic usage of electricity - provides a hard life for a Nigerian citizen, when it really does not have to be.
We support each Nation in its retention strategy, but with that must come growth and development.
#nigeria #nursing #nurses #midwives #Immigration #foreignworkers #healthcare #healthcareindustry
Sources:
https://punchng.com/nurses-plan-showdown-as-fg-moves-to-slow-down-process/