Professionalism: FG set to improve nursing, midwifery practice

Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) is set to improve the quality of nursing and midwifery in the country for effective healthcare to the people, Mrs Veronica Okolo, the Director, Nursing, FMoH, said.

She told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that the nursing and midwifery sector needed to position itself in a way that it would improve quality and provide opportunities for holistic healthcare service in the country.

She said that the ministry was working to improve nursing and midwifery practice that would be geared toward professionalism.

The director added that the ministry would collaborate with relevant stakeholders to transform effective nursing programmes and strategies to enhance the Nigerian health system.

She noted that government would expand the midwifery service delivery to improve maternal and child health and primary healthcare.

Okolo explained that the obstacles confronting the profession would be resolved by government to help nurses and midwives to provide quality service at all levels, especially at the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).

She said that this would enable the nurses and midwives to improve services toward preventing diseases and promoting the well-being of Nigerians, ultimately driving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and boosting the Nigerian economy.

Okolo, however, said that majority of nurses and midwives work in urban and semi-urban hospitals as opposed to community health centres.

She added that “to address the unequal distribution and increase the number of skilled obstetric care providers, the government implemented the Midwives Service Scheme in 2009 to reduce maternal/child mortality and morbidity in rural areas.

“This programme deploys newly graduated and retired midwives to rural primary health centres to take care of the needs of the people.”

She said that the objective was to augment and improve quality of care providers, especially in hard-to-reach communities with limited access to urban or semi-urban health facilities.

The director added that government was looking at developing a volunteer Nurse Programme that would enable retired nurses to give back to their communities and continue to be compassionate healthcare providers in the country.

She explained that the values of retired nurses, their wisdom, their experience and knowledge of history and culture were highly essential to achieving UHC.

“That is why government wants to stay connected with them,’’ she said. (NAN)