Nurses are among the front-line workers in the care for coronavirus patients. How prepared are your people at this time of crisis?
We are really concerned, I must say, because the nurse is the first person of contact a patient will always meet in the hospital. The nurse is also the last person a patient will meet before leaving the hospital. Even as the patient recovers, the nurse is the person who will finally discharge them. And in case of death, they are also there with the patient. Therefore, the nurse is the beginning and the end when it comes to the management of patients because they are there with them all through.
Naturally, nurses are the most hit during this era of coronavirus because they are in the forefront. When you also talk about the population in a hospital set-up, they are in the majority. Sometimes, you can see between 10 and 20 nurses to just two or three doctors. That is the situation in most health facilities in Plateau State and elsewhere in Nigeria. But even in the face of the danger, we cannot abandon our patients.
Your group recently threatened to go on strike over lack of protective gear for members, how bad is the situation?
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