Unless there is an urgent intervention by the Katsina State Government, Nurses and Midwives are set to withdraw their services from some identified insurgency prone parts of the State.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, the health workers under the aegis of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, issued January 30, 2025 dateline for the authorities to attend to some specific demands or risk having their services withdrawn.
The State Chairman of the umbrella body of the health personnel, Nura Mu’azu, lamented that it has become increasingly impossible and risky for their members to continue to serve in some local councils of the state owing to the activities of bandits and other criminal elements .
He listed the security- challenged Councils to include Batsari, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibia, Dutsinma, Musawa Funtua and Batagrawa.
According to him, over time, the body has lost several of its members, with others maimed for life, while many have been kidnapped in the line of duty .
The Chairman of the NANNM expressed regret over a recent abduction saga that occurred on Tuesday January 15, involving Nurse Yusuf Mairuwa ,and other health workers at the General Hospital in Kankara.
In all of the abduction incidents involving Nurses,vMidwives and other health workers, the kidnappers had demanded for several millions of Naira, as ransom, he stated.
Mu’azu informed that the spate of abductions in some parts of the State has served to instill fear and dampen the morale of health workers in the frontline local councils.
The NANNM Chairman explained that the decision to withdraw their services has become the last option after past futile efforts to draw the attention of authorities to their plights.
While appreciating the efforts of the Government in arresting the security challenges facing the State, the nurses and midwifery body believes that more needs to be done, particularly, in the area of protecting medical facilities and health personnel.
To this end, Mu’azu listed the demands of the Union to include- the provision of 24/7 robust security network in and around all the hospitals in the security- challenged areas.
“Implementing measures (whatever it takes) to ensure the safe release of kidnapped Yusuf Mairuwa and other captives, as they were abducted while serving the Government.
” Immediate compensation to our members who were subjected to one loss or the other due to this insecurity while on duty .
” Improved remuneration to attract more health workers for better healthcare delivery”
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