Ahead of the forthcoming National Council on Establishments (NCE) meeting, UGONSA has written the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) a reminder for the passage of the proper placement memo of the BNSc degree submitted by the Federal Ministry of Health. The full content of the letter is published below:
The
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,
Federal
Secretariat Complex,
Phase
II, Shehu Shagari Way,
Three
Arms Zone, Abuja
Tel:
23492908853, 23492906342
Attention:
Permanent Secretary on
Establishments
Sir/Madam,
MEMORANDUM
ON PROPER GRADING OF THE BACHELOR OF NURSING SCIENCES (BNSc): A REQUEST FOR
YOUR PATRIOTIC INTERVENTION
Nightingales’ greeting
from our members comprising nurses with minimum qualification of first degree
in nursing.
2. We appreciate all your efforts as the leader
of the National Council on Establishment (NCE) at fostering equity and fairness
in the Civil Service of the Federation. However, we are writing your esteemed
office a reminder to our earlier letter on the above subject matter Ref No.
UG/NAT/20/HCSF/01 dated March 10, 2020, and to again request that you deploy
your patriotic latitudes to ensure that equity and fairness are extended to the
nursing profession.
3. It
is pertinent we appraise the issue at stake to refresh your memory on the
inexplicable injustice that has been meted on the members of the nursing
profession.
2. As of date, nurse interns are the only
interns in our health sector that are “under-placed” on Grade Level 08 (. i.e.,
CONHESS 07), whereas their counterparts from other core healthcare disciplines
such as Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy and so on, are
placed on Grade Level 09 (. i.e., CONHESS 08). Post-NYSC (National Youth
Service Corps), the university graduates of nursing are aberrantly employed
into the Civil Service on Grade Level 09 (CONHESS 08). In contrast, their
counterparts in other core healthcare disciplines are employed in the same
health system on Grade Level 10 (CONHESS 09), thereby under-placing the
university graduates of nursing at a one-grade level below their counterparts.
3. More appalling is that this injustice of
under-placement of graduate nurses to the tune of one grade level below par
occurs despite that nursing and the aforementioned core healthcare disciplines
have similar entry requirements and course duration for the first degree in the
university.
4. Moreso, the wrongful under-placement is
at variance with the gazetted verdict of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP)
of the year 1981, which granted that in the healthcare delivery service of
Nigeria, the profession of Nursing is on parity with that of Pharmacy as is the
case in Great Britain (Please refer Annexure A for the IAP document). By the unambiguous provision of the IAP
verdict, the basis for the appointment of graduates of Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm)
degree, as well as the university graduates of the other core healthcare
disciples unto Grade Level 10 (CONHESS 09) post-NYSC, also justifies why the
graduates of the Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) degree, who are on parity
with them, should be appointed on the same grade level, especially as both
professions of Nursing and Pharmacy and the other healthcare disciplines
aforementioned have similar entry requirements and course duration for the
first degree in the university plus a one-year internship training pre-NYSC.
5. The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH)
understands that this injustice is grievous and detrimental to the progress of
our health system, hence presented the case to the NCE for rectification at its
42nd meeting as “A Memorandum
on Proper Grading of the Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) Graduates” (please
refer Annexure B). Had the issues on proper placements or adjustments on
cadre/rank/post/GL fallen within the purview of the FMOH, this glaring
injustice would have been rectified without bureaucratic hassles. The FMOH has
washed its hands off the injustice by presenting the memo to the National
Council on Establishment (NCE) on whose purview lies the rectification of the
anomaly. It is now incumbent on the NCE (which your office chairs) to live
above board and once again show equity and fairness by endorsing and passing
the memo.
6. As part of its bureaucratic process, we
learned that the NCE, at its 42nd meeting held in Ikeja, Lagos (from
November 30 to December 4, 2020), referred the matter to its standing
(technical) committee for in-depth studies for consideration at the next NCE
meeting. While we are not opposed to the bureaucratic processes of the NCE, we
wish to humbly infer that the case is crystal clear and has no justification
for further delay. Injustice pervades where two equal things are deliberately
made unequal. There is no justification whatsoever in logic, principles,
rationality, or common sense, for treating the university graduates of nursing
as subservient to their par and counterparts in other core healthcare disciplines.
7. In countries with exemplary health
systems where our political class usually runs to for treatment, nurses earn
more than their counterparts in other core healthcare disciplines on the basis
of workload.
8. In terms of workload, nurses are the heartbeat
of the hospital. They are the main frontline healthcare professionals with the
highest bedside visibility, who stay with patients round-the-clock from birth
till death serving as a tapestry of care similar to the roles played by mothers
in families; a tapestry woven through nurses' daily contact with patients,
through attending to patients' physical, psychological, emotional or otherwise
holistic needs, administering treatments and medications, monitoring patients'
responses to those treatments and medications, helping patients to prevent
illnesses or live with their illness or helping educate them about how to live
with their illnesses, liaison with patients' family members and social network
systems, and helping patients die with some measure of comfort and dignity when
recovery is paled, and death is inevitable.
9. The curriculum of the Nigerian BNSc
degree is robust and among the best in the world and has enabled Nigerian
nurses to thrive and compete favourably with a superlative performance in
international arenas.
10.
The curriculum of the BNSc degree as
designed and set by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Nursing
& Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) is in line with the best
international standard such that the BNSc programme produces polyvalent
nurse/midwife practitioners whose roles in addition to health promotion,
disease & illness prevention, health restoration, acute care &
treatment, rehabilitation & palliative care, also cut across management and
administration. Thus, the university education and training of nurses verily
equipped them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and capabilities for
critical thinking, clinical reasoning & judgment, and the clinical
competence to play and coordinate independent, dependent, and interdependent
roles in our healthcare delivery system.
11.
We are therefore calling on your
esteemed office as the leadership of the NCE to put on a patriotic garb of
equity, justice, and fairness and see that the memo for righting this wrong
which has been lying on the table of the NCE is approved without further delay
at the forthcoming NCE meeting.
PRAYER
We
passionately request, appeal, and demand that you kindly, in collaboration with
other members of our revered National Council on Establishment (NCE):
1. pass
and approve at the next NCE meeting the Memorandum on Proper Grading of the
Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) Graduates seeking to make Grade Level 09 (.
i.e., CONHESS 08) the entry point for the nurse interns and Grade Level 10 (.
i.e., CONHESS 09) the entry point for the graduates post-NYSC as is obtainable
with other core healthcare professions.
2. make
correcting the perennial injustice of wrongful under-placement of graduate
nurses your personal project and rank it among the topmost priority service
problems to throw the weight of your esteemed office behind for on-the-spot
rectification at the next NCE meeting.
3. follow-up
with the NCE standing (technical) committee and see that this all-important
issue of enhanced entry point and proper grading of the Bachelor of Nursing Sciences
(BNSc) at par with their
counterparts in other healthcare disciplines which borders on equity, fairness,
justice, and inclusiveness in our health system is given a favourable leaning by
the committee for express passage and approval at the next NCE meeting.
Submitted with a deep
sense of respect and responsibility.
Signed:
CHIEF (HON.) S.E.O. EGWUENU NURSE P.O. ETENG
National President
Ag.National Secretary
