Ebola: Nurses Seek Adequate Fund For Health Sector

The National
Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has called on the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health to pay more  attention to adequate funding of the health sector throughout the country.
In a statement  released to The Tide and signed by the union’s National President and General Secretary Comrade Nurse Abdrafiu Alani Adenji and Comrade Yusuf Badmus respectively urged the Federal Government to establish a National Health Science Research Trust Fund in the health sector, similar to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) in the education sector.
The union said through such trust fund in the health sector, health science research, training and re-training programmes for health workers in the country would be facilitated for the sector to meet current national and global health challenges.
The union’s statement said the National Health Research Policy should compel foreign and indigenous pharmaceutical companies to contribute a certain percentage of their profits to the fund.
The Nurses said the benefit of the fund when set up cannot be overemphasised to the health sector as it would be a vital weapon to combat and curb not only the deadly Ebola virus, but all other deadly diseases ravaging the human race.
NANNM said that it was sad that since 1976 when Ebola virus was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo no significant scientific research has been reported or achieved to find a vaccine that will cure or kill the virus.
The union said nurses in the country are disheartened that some of their members have become victims of the deadly virus, stressing that the Federal, States and Local Governments should intensify efforts at protecting and adequately providing the nurses with standard personal protective equipment to avoid more casualties.
The union said that the swift actions to combat the virus in the country are steps in the right direction, urging Nigerians to inculcate the habit of personal hygiene at all times since there has  been no cure so far for the deadly virus.
The union enjoined other states in the federation to emulate the steps taken by the Lagos State government for the renumeration and motivation of nurses and health workers who are currently at the forefront of the treatment of Ebola virus disease paticuts.

Philip Okparaji