Absenteeism; Niger Embarks on Screening of Midwives .
Yahaya Zakka Minna
Niger State Ministry of Health has carried out a screening exercise for Midwives across the 25 local government areas of the state.
The essence of the exercise according to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Muhammad Gana, who was the leader of the screening committee, was to punish absentees, and to ascertain the number of Midwives in the various hospitals in the state and to also determine the number to consider during recruitment to fill in the gap.
Dr Gana pointed out to some of the Midwives that arrived for the exercise that most of them were usually absent whenever the Ministry’s Monitoring Team visits their place of work, warning that the lukewarm attitude will no longer be tolerated.
He pointed out that any Midwife discovered to be absent from work for a number of times, without genuine reason will be relieved of her duty.
The Director Nursing Services, Hadiza L. Mohammed, in her remark, admonished the Midwives to take their job seriously because securing employment in recent times has become herculean, stressing that with the endless number of applicants looking for jobs, it won’t be difficult to replace them.
Also speaking during the exercise, the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Comrade Anna Simone, disclosed that in the past eight years, about 317 Nurses retired from service with some that are dead, hence there was an acute shortage of manpower in the sector.
She therefore said any Midwife that feels she cannot continue with the job should resign honourably without rancour, to pave way for fresh hands because so many applicants were looking for the opportunity to be employed.
