Expert: Nursing Verification Guidelines Goes against Available Profession’s Regulations

Sunday Ehigiator

A professional Nurse with over 20 years of practice, and President, Alumni Association of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Yale, Mr. Okeke Chinedu, has condemned the Nursing Verification Guidelines recently introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), saying it goes against all available nursing regulations, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) Act of 1979, and the International Council of Nurses Regulations.

The House of Representatives had on Tuesday, halted the implementation of the controversial revised guidelines for verification of certificates of nursing and midwifery issued by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

The resolution by the lawmakers was passed as a sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Patrick Umoh, who frowned at the circumstances surrounding the revised regulations.

Okeke, while speaking during an interview on a television programme, said regulatory compliance issue was why Nigerian nurses are where they are today.

According to him, “Nursing as a profession is a regulated profession, just like medical practice, physiotherapy, pharmacy, etc. This means that before you can practice in any jurisdiction as a nurse, you must meet the regulatory requirements of that jurisdiction. So this is a requirement to practice in any jurisdiction as a nurse.

“The definition of nursing by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) is professionalism encompasses the development of a nursing identity; it embraces values and integrity. Altruism, and inclusivity, this is actually according to the ICN.

“The American College of Nurses defined the profession as a body which requires a specialised body of knowledge. That being said, nursing has a well-defined body of theoretical knowledge. But if you go to the Nursing and Midwifery Law of the UK, they said Professionalism is characterised by autonomous evidence-based decision-making.

“But in the 1979 NMC Act, it is interesting to see that section 2i of the act says that one registered medical practitioner, who shall be a qualified gynecologist, and obstetrician, will serve on that membership sit for 3 years. “That means we have removed the autonomy from nursing and placed medical practitioners into membership of the board.”

According to Okeke, “Based on the definition of the ICN, NMC UK, and given that of the American College of Nurses, we are supposed to be a profession. But the Nigerian constitution and NMCN Act of 1979, have denied us nurses the right to be a profession. So we are not a profession as far as they are concerned in Nigeria.

“The rationale for the establishment of the Nursing and Midwifery Act of 1966, which is the first repute, and written in 1970, then revised in 1989, and 1992, with additional sections added without affecting most of the original contents of the body, is just to protect the public and not the nurses.

“It doesn’t protect the nurses, but the Nigerian public by ensuring a standard of practice. However, the act isn’t also currently protecting the public based on the present NMC verification guidelines.

“Even though the NMC is obsolete and needs urgent amendment, the current NMC verification guidelines go against the Nigerian constitution which supersedes the guideline.

“For example, nurses are also members of the public, and we require the same care. When we provide care, we become professionals, but when we are sick, we are bound by the same NMC standards of duty to receive care.

“Our parents who suffered to pay school fees ranging from a minimum of N250,000 to N1.6 million, depending on which school you attended, are also members of the public who deserve care when they are sick or dying.

“A situation whereby, NMCN arbitrarily uses an unnecessary verification guideline to indirectly reject our intention to migrate through a genuine hard work approach, to make a reasonable income that would meet our parent’s healthcare needs.

“Section 251 of the Nigerian constitution states that the fundamental rights include the right to life, right to dignity of the human person, liberty, fair hearing, private and family life, freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and press, peaceful assembly and association, and likewise the freedom of movement.

“This is different from section 41-1 in the same 1999 constitution which talks about freedom of movement within Nigeria.

“Section 251 is talking about freedom of movement in and out of Nigeria; this verification process is impeding that section. It is denying us to earn a living and limiting our access to a reasonable income that will help us to take care of our families who are severely ill back home.

“I will also take you to the United Nations (UN) International Rights Law on Freedom of Movement. Article 13 states that everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of his state.

“Everyone has the right to leave any country including his town and to return to his country. These are exercises from the United Nations Article 13, resolution 2023.

“In summary, considering all the above I have said to you, you can see that the current Nursing and Midwifery Verification Guideline goes against all available relevant regulations we can talk about.”

Therefore, he advised the Nursing Council of Nigeria, “to rescind its decision,” advising that “they should go back to the drawing board.”