In a
letter Ref No. UG/NAT/21/FMOL&E/01 dated 31st March, 2021, the
University Graduates of Nursing Science Association (UGONSA) has written the
Honourable Minister of Labour & Employment, Senator Chris Ngige,
demanding that nurses’ hazard allowance should be at least two folds more
than what is payable to other members of the healthcare team. Below is the full
text of the letter:
The
Hounourable Minister of Labour and Employment,
Federal Secretariat Complex Phase I, Annex II,
Shehu
Shagari Way,
P.M.B.
04, Abuja FCT. Nigeria.
Sir,
EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT OF
HEALTH WORKERS’ HAZARD ALLOWANCE REQUIRES THAT RATE SHOULD BE PRORATED TO THE
DEGREE AND LEVEL OF EXPOSURE TO HEALTHCARE-RELATED HAZARDS
Easter
greetings from the members of the University Graduates of Nursing Science
Association (UGONSA).
2. We
write to commend your ongoing effort at ensuring that our age-long cry for the
review of the health workers’ hazard allowance is addressed by President
Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
3. However,
we call for equity in the adjustment of the hazard allowance such that the
template for the upward review of the hazard allowance shall be prorated on the
level of exposure to clinical hazards.
4. It is incontrovertible that nurses are the
single most exposed group to healthcare-related hazards among the healthcare
professionals. Nurses stay round-the-clock at the patients’ bedside and thus,
have the highest exposure to healthcare-related hazards among the healthcare
team members. Since the care of mankind has been entrusted to nurses, they must
be adequately compensated and motivated to carry out this task effectively and
efficiently.
5. For
the umpteenth time, we wish to re-emphasize that the current N5000 (five
thousand naira) payable to nurses, who swim in an ocean of hazards, as hazard
allowance epitomizes insensitivity on the side of the government and shows a
lack of commitment or the political will to reposition our healthcare system
for efficient service delivery.
6. Globally,
the performances of healthcare systems are proportional to the level of welfare
and motivation advanced to nurses. Nursing is the cornerstone upon which care
is anchored in the healthcare delivery system. Nurses are to the healthcare
system what mothers are to the family. Any family in which the mother is
empowered is eternally progressive but families where mothers are subjugated
and trampled upon (as done to nurses in the Nigeria health system) never make
any inch of progress. This explains why the Nigeria health system is almost the
‘first from behind’ in the ranking of the world’s performing and responsive
health systems.
7. Every
progressive health system understands that nursing is the heartbeat of
healthcare and thus gives premium to the welfare and well-being of nurses to
keep afloat a motivated workforce for efficient service delivery. We cannot do less than joining the league of the progressive health system at this
auspicious moment. It is better late than never!
8. A
reviewed hazard allowance equitably configured to reflect the level of exposure
to clinical hazards such that nurses “who are exposed the most are paid the
most” will motivate nurses and oil their latitude to meeting the increasing
complexities of health needs of Nigerians, which nurses are in the frontline to
drive.
9. Medical tourism by Nigerians, including our elected
officials, will end the day our government starts placing premium on the welfare
of nurses and the way they are remunerated. This is because, with a motivated
nursing workforce, we stand to get in Nigerian hospitals what is obtainable in
high-ranking hospitals elsewhere.
10. Having been adrift from the best
practices of building a motivated nursing workforce over the years, it is high
to return our health system to the pathway of superlative performance
engineered by a motivated nursing workforce. Although there is a long way to go
in achieving this, the government can kick start the move with the hazard
allowance by ensuring that the nurses who get the lion share of exposure to
clinical hazards equally get the lion share of the payable hazard allowance.
11. The motivation should be visible and
palpable such that nurses’ hazard allowance should be at least two folds more
than what is payable to other members of the healthcare team.
Signed:
CHIEF (HON.) S.E.O. EGWUENU NURSE P.O. ETENG
National President Ag.National
Secretary
