By Ikeugonna Eleke
Nurses in Anambra State, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Anambra State Chapter, have protested against their poor working conditions in government owned health institutions in the state.
The nurses made the protest during an interactive forum they organized at their residential quarters known as Nurses House, located in Okpuno, within the state capital, to interact with their state leadership who they charged to take their message to the State Government.
The nurses complained amongst other things of poor implementation of their salary structure, which is known as CONHESS, saying that their pay remained the least in all the neighbouring states.
Addressing the state chairperson of NANNM, Mrs Edith Onwuka, the nurses who took turns to speak, bared their minds on the challenges they faced in carrying out their duties.
They said: ‘We have never been paid more than 60 percent of our salary, even with the current minimum wage increment.
‘Some of us work in hospitals with over 80 patients in a ward originally meant for 20 bed spaces, making it so difficult for the health workers to operate in such an environment.
‘Till date, our hazard allowance still remains N3, 000, as against 30, 000 Naira that’s the statutory amount supposed to be paid,’ they lamented.
The group begged the State Government through the Commissioner for Health to listen to their cry for help and come to their rescue as their bizarre working conditions kept getting worse by the day.
The State Chairperson of NANNM, Onwuka, who listened to the nurses, assured that the leadership would reach the State Government to resolve all pending issues.
She pleaded for patience among the members of the group, saying that a meeting had been fixed with the relevant authorities, hoping that their agitations would be looked into.
