Emergency nurses in Oyo are worried about the poor working conditions in most government hospitals across the country, an official of their association said on Thursday.

Filicia Illimms, the chairman of the Oyo State branch of the Emergency Nurses Association of Nigeria, stated this in an interview in Ibadan.

Mr Illimms, a senior nurse at the Emergency Unit of the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, said most emergency nurses usually depended on torchlight to dress patients’ wounds, particularly at night.

She said if the trend should be allowed to continue, it might worsen the mass exodus of nurses currently being witnessed in the health sector.

According to the health practitioner, most of the basic things that can make the nursing profession attractive, particularly to those working in government-owned hospitals, are lacking.

“For instance, we have only four to six emergency nurses doing the work of 56 nurses. How will there be efficiency and promptness in the discharge of their duties?

“To worsen the situation, most of the time in the night, we resort to the use of a torch to administer drugs and dress the wounds of patients.

“In fact, the condition of the environment under which we operate is generally not ideal and secure,” Ms Illimms said.

She stated that Nigerians must understand the background of the ‘japa’ syndrome, particularly in the country’s health sector, before blaming nurses and other medical practitioners.

Corroborating Ms Illimms’s submission, Samuel Adeyemi, chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Oyo State chapter, said there was a shortage of nurses in Nigerian hospitals.

Mr Adeyemi said this was one of the challenges facing the profession in the country today.

According to him, the World Health Organisation (WHO) prescribes that there should be a ratio of one nurse to four patients, adding, however, that it is one nurse to between 50 and 100 patients in Nigeria at present.

“Worse still, poor water and electricity supply in the hospitals have remained the order of the day, while nurses have to labour under such extreme circumstances to deliver.

“Imagine nurses being placed on 12-hour shifts in order to save lives while their own well-being and welfare are not given priority,” he said.

Mr Adeyemi recalled that recently, nurses at UCH refused to wear their uniforms due to non-payment of uniform allowance for years.

He said that while medical doctors are being paid N25,000 as a uniform allowance, nurses receive N20,000, expressing regret that the allowances were not being paid as at when due.

“But, I heard that the matter has been resolved between the nurses and UCH authorities, at least, for now,” Mr Adeyemi stated.

October 11 of every year has been set aside by the UN “to shine a light on and appreciate the outstanding commitment of emergency nursing professionals” from around the globe.

(NAN)