NURSING ACT AMENDMENT: UGONSA CALLS FOR CONTRIBUTION FROM THE GENERAL NURSING COMMUNITY

The attached is the compilation of the inputs made by the extended UGONSA committee on Nursing Act amendment. The committee was set up at the 19th National Professional Conference of UGONSA, Kaduna 2019 with a mandate of comparing the current Nigerian nursing Act with that of other healthcare disciplines in Nigeria as well with the Nursing Act in developed Countries such as US, UK, Canada, etc and coming up with a document that will contain what our nursing Act should look like at the present moment. After extensive research and relentless effort from July 2019 to February 2020, the committee came up with the proposal so attached as what will at least make nursing in Nigeria more responsive, dynamic and adaptive to changing and challenging contemporary healthcare needs as is with the profession in climes with ranking health systems.

Good enough, Senator  Mohammed Hassan (Zamfara Central) out of altruism and love for the profession has landed a bill for the amendment of the Act at the National Assembly. While the collaborative effort of the NMCN and NANNM that helped to get us to this point of potential reprieve cannot be over-emphasized, UGONSA passionately call for all that sincerely want this bill to be a standing departure from the existing Act (which placed a limiting & compressing rein on almost every facet of growth & development of the profession) to make out time to review the UGONSA proposed amendments by comparing the attached document word by word with the current Act and make observations and suggestions. 

All observations and suggestions must be returned to UGONSA via our email address, gnan2ugonsa@gmail.com, not later than  Sunday 23rd February, 2020.

By the last week of February, all the suggestions, observations, and ideas articulated from the general nursing community shall be further built into this document that was produced by the committee and availed to the Distinguished Senator Mohammed Hassan, the NMCN and NANNM. 

Following this, UGONSA shall collaborate with other stakeholders to mobilize actions to see that areas that deserve amendment, as identified by the Committee & the general nursing community, are considered by the Senate sub-committee that will handle the amendment of the bill. This is a time for action and active participation; no genuine lover of the profession should sit on the fence or appear to sit on the fence. All hands must be on the deck. The UGONSA proposed amendment to the Act is in MS word while the currently existing Nursing Act is in PDF.

Signed

UGONSA National Excos

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