Nurses and midwives in Katsina State have declared the withdrawal of their providers from hospitals in frontline and weak areas, citing poor remuneration, insufficient welfare, and worsening safety situations.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Katsina State Council, introduced this throughout a press briefing in Katsina.
The affiliation decried the plight of well being employees within the state, revealing that regardless of working beneath excessive stress and life-threatening situations, their hazard allowance stays a meagre N5,000 monthly.
Moreover, Katsina, one among Nigeria’s most populous states, employs solely about 1,000 nurses and midwives, resulting in persistent manpower shortages and overwhelming workloads for the remaining professionals.“We’re receiving one of many lowest remunerations in Nigeria, with insufficient welfare and an growing charge of resignations as well being employees go away for higher alternatives elsewhere,” the affiliation said.The choice to withdraw providers comes after the kidnapping of a nurse, Yusuf Mohammed Mairuwa, from Common Hospital Kankara on January 15, 2025. This incident follows earlier assaults on healthcare employees, together with the homicide of Nurse Murtala Isah Safana in 2022, the everlasting eye harm of Nurse Hamza Saleh in an assault close to Yan-Tumaki junction, and the kidnapping of a nurse’s spouse from Common Hospital Kurfi in 2024, which led to a N5 million ransom fee.
In response to the affiliation, no vital motion has been taken regardless of a proper letter to the Katsina State authorities demanding enhanced safety inside two weeks. The affiliation insists that with out pressing intervention, the protection of healthcare employees stays compromised.
Reacting to the problem raised, the well being commissioner, Musa Adamu, stated he had met with the affiliation’s leaders, they usually resolved about 85 p.c of their issues, ruling out the federal government’s plan to pay ransom for the discharge of the Mairruwa and others within the arms of bandits.
Whereas commending the affiliation for expressing their plans, Adamu added that the federal government has already taken a number of measures to safe all of the hospitals within the state and supply extra personnel throughout the state’s healthcare amenities.
