TheCable

The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NMCN) says its new guidelines on certificate verification are due to complaints about nurses not following due process.

In a circular on Thursday, the NMCN announced that applicants seeking the verification of certificates to foreign nursing boards and councils must possess two years post qualification experience.

The council also said applicants are required to pay a non-refundable fee per application for verification to foreign boards of nursing as specified on the council’s portal.

“Eligible applicants must have a minimum of two (2) years post qualification experience from the date of issuance of permanent practicing licence. Any application with provisional licence shall be rejected outrightly,” the circular reads.

“The Council shall request a letter of Good Standing from the Chief Executive Officer of applicant’s place(s) of work and the last nursing training institutions attended and responses on these shall be addressed directly to the Registrar/CEO, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. Please note that Council shall not accept such letter(s) through the applicant.”

The circular elicited outrage on social media with many nurses and health workers describing it as a violation of their rights.

Some nurses also protested in Abuja and Lagos on Monday.

Speaking on Tuesday during a Channels Television programme, Faruk Abubakar, registrar of NMCN, said the verification of certificates is in line with international best practices and is not peculiar to Nigeria.

He said the council received complaints on issues and loopholes regarding nurses relocation.

“A nurse on duty would not follow due process of exit. A nurse on night duty would not be found and when she is called, she says she’s already at the airport,” he said.

“The council received a lot of complaints about this menace and that is why we decided to check how we can curtail these excesses. And so we came out with these new guidelines.

“We’re not stopping anybody from travelling out of the country. It is our pride that Nigerians are servicing other countries. But it has to be in a formal way and not an irrational way.

“As an employee, there is a due process if you want to leave. After fulfilling all the process of your exit, then you need to give a notice, either three months notice or one month in lieu of payment.”

Abubakar said the council also received complaints that many nurses “are in debt with either cooperatives within the institution or the bank”.

He said this becomes a problem after they have left the country.

“Another issue is that just last year, a number of nurses were found with fake documents in America and when we did background search, about eight of them were not in our database,” he said.

“We cannot recall their letter of good standing because it will dent the image of the country. So we decided to strengthen the verification process before they leave and that’s what we did.”