TheCable

Aminu Shehu, Kwara state chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), has called on the state government to improve members’ welfare packages.

On Saturday, Aminu spoke in Ilorin on the sideline of a forum addressing the gross shortage of medical practitioners in the state.

He called on the state government to employ more health workers, saying one nurse presently attends to about 30 patients in Kwara, adding that ideally, it should be one nurse to four patients only.

He said there are only 700 nurses in the state and 3,000 more must be employed.

“Last year we mounted pressure on the state government to increase our salary, and the governor increased it from 60 percent to 70 percent, but didn’t meet our expectations because we demanded for 100 percent,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“The governor employed more nurses last year, but as he employed them, they spent some time and left the service for better offers.

“We now concluded that the solution to the problem is an increment of salary from 70 percent to 100 percent, improve welfare package and payment of hazard allowance.

“We have written to the governor who asked us to bring the number of nurses in the state and the number required to be employed.”

The chairman also demanded the presence of security operatives at various hospitals in order to checkmate the excesses of some patients and their relatives who sometimes become violent when they lose their loved ones.