Nurses Decry Poor State of Hospital Facilities in FCT

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Chairman of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives, (NANNM), Comrade Deborah Yusufu, has lamented the poor state of funding and facilities in most of the public hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory.

Speaking with THISDAY during the FCT Nurses Week celebration in Abuja recently, Yesufu pleaded with the authorities of urgently release funds to clear the arrears of salaries and allowances owed health workers.

She said: “Honestly, the challenges we are facing are enormous. For instance, there is the shortage of manpower in the hospitals in the capital city.

“In the past seven years, there has not been any fresh recruitment of staff. What we were having was replacement of retired staff.

“In the same vein, there are no new equipment. All our equipment are obsolete and this has been affecting our work.”

Yusufu also complained that most of the nurses’ allowances are outstanding.

The association’s scribe appealed to the minister of the FCT, to urgently come to their assistance to pay outstanding allowances and to reequip the hospitals.