The Federal Government has expressed worries over the number of nurses leaving the country.
It said the development had led to a shortage of nurses practicing in the country’s public healthcare sector.
This is coming as the Registrar of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Dr Faruk Abubakar, at the matriculation ceremony of Merit College of Nursing Sciences, Orlu, Imo State, said that instead of the 800, 000 nurses needed to attend to healthcare issues in the country, the public healthcare sector had less than 400,000 nurses.
His words “There is a brain drain in the nursing sector. We need about 800, 000 nurses to take care of the challenges in our public healthcare sector but unfortunately, we have less than 400, 000 nurses. But the good news is that the migration of our nurses to abroad is an indication that our nurses are to be reckoned with globally.”
The registrar also lauded the proprietor of Merit College of Nursing Sciences, Orlu, Dr Chika Ugbaja for establishing the institution to raise people who would help to tackle the challenges confronting the nation’s public healthcare sector.
“I commend Dr Chika Ugbaja, for establishing this school in Nigeria after many years of practice in the United States. Merit College of Nursing Sciences, Orlu, will raise quality nurses and midwives”, Abubarkar said.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Prosper Obinna, in his contribution, said the state government was committed to collaborating with the college to solve the healthcare needs of the people of the state.