Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
Never for once has the medical industry been in dire need of medical practitioners than now due to the daily increase of dreadful diseases and of course, the lucrative nature of the practice all over the world. This indeed has spurred the interest of Nigerians to venture into this field.
Owing to this fact, there has been a massive rise in the population of medical practitioners especially nurses in the health sector thus placing a huge responsibility upon the shoulders of the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria which is saddled with the responsibility of regulating, issuing licenses and verifying qualified nurses in the sector.
However, information made available to SecretReporters reveal that in a bid to perhaps curtail the increasing population of nurses and midwives in the country who tend to practice outside the shores of the country, the Nursing Board Council has without warning suddenly increased their verification fees from Eight Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Naira (N8,750) to Fifty Three Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N53, 500).
The directive for the sudden astronomical increase we learnt was contained in a letter signed by the council Head of Account, D.O. Tokunbo instructing all Departmental, sectional and Unit Heads of the council to immediately implement the new verification fee without any explanation.
SecretReporters leant that earlier in its board meeting held from 24th to 26th October 2018 at the Hotel De-Bently; the council during their deliberations approved the radical increment of the verification fee to be effective 29th October 2018. The memo was however furnished to the old and intending members of the council after been issued by Mr Tokunbo on November 14th, 2018.
A source who pleaded anonymity from the council headquarters disclosed to our reporter that the Board of Directors with no sympathy and in a bid to monopolize the council willingly agreed to such increase without considering the pockets of Nurses and Midwives who may from time to time need to verify their certificates of registration with the council.
Most Nurses and midwives who operate under the umbrella of the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria thereby call on the Minister of health and other relevant authorities to quickly re-deliberate on this sudden increase as it will not only favor the elites but will also be a restriction and demoralizing factor to individuals who intend to pursue a Midwifery or Nursing career.
