Sir, Permit me to use the nursingworldnigeria.com website to appreciate your kind gesture at the recent increment in allowances for NYSC members serving in your state, Sokoto.
You showed great magnanimity towards medical doctors by increasing their allowance from N36000 to N50,000. With this new initiative by your governemnt, even pharmacists would now smile home with N25,000 up from the N19,000 they previously earned.
According to you sir, graduates of lab science and other MEDICAL TECHNICIANS LIKE NURSES are now entitled to a monthly stipend of N15,000 up from the current N9,000 they were earning from the state governemnt
MEDICAL TECHNICIANS LIKE NURSES?
Sir, My first reaction to your grouping of nurses as MEDICAL TECHNICIANS was to laugh it off and totally ignore it but on second thought, I decided keeping silent would be unwise and i would unwittingly be lending credence to your innocent 'demeaning categorization' of nurses as technicians.
For the records sir,'medical technician’ is a broad term that encompasses a number of important careers in the healthcare industry.
In Nigeria these group of careers are referred to as medical technicians: operation theatre technicians, echo technicians, lab technicians, pharmacy technicians, environmental health technicians, community health technicians, medical darkroom technicians, x-ray technicians, dental technicians, biomed technicians, anaesthetic technicians, optometric technicians, EEG technicians etc their jobs can involve tasks such as utilizing equipment that provides the latest life-saving medical treatments for patients in need. Duties may involve the utilization of diagnostic equipment to produce images that allow physicians to diagnose and effectively treat a host of ailments. In addition to the responsibility of running medical equipment, medical technicians can also perform administrative duties that include organizing patient charts and making sure records are accurate and up to date
Sir, We are all human and every one can make an innocent mistake as we are not infallable. Even the president at one point in time referred to Germany as “West Germany” whereas Germany ceased to be West Germany in 1990. You would agree with me at this point that nurses are not medical technicians.
I am sincerely worried that your categorization of nurses as 'medical technicians' may have guided your decision on what they should earn as remuneration in this new policy you plan to implement.
I dont mean to disparage any professional course but i must highlight the fact that all these technician courses you grouped nurses with are all run on national diploma (ND) and higher national diploma (HND) basis in colleges of health tech at a maximum duration of 3 years. Could this be a factor your considered when you deemed it befitting that they earn N15,000?
According to the NUC benchmark and minimum academic standard for pharmaceutical sciences, Pharmacist spend five years in the university and graduate with a bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm), Nurses also spend 5 years in the university and graduate with a bachelor of Nursing science (BNSc) in addition to multiple diplomas in Nursing, Midwifery, public health etc. Am at a loss as to the yardstick used to determine that corper pharmacists should earn N25000 and nurses N15,000 whereas both spend same 5 years in the university and graduate with bachelors degree.
Sir, you must take a stand and stop this day light robbery which even continues even after youth service as these same pharmacy graduates after NYSC are placed on CONHESS 09 (Grade level 10) after internship with all its attendant practical experience and financial emoluments while nurses are denied internship opportunities and aberrantly placed on CONHESS 07 (Grade level 08)
Nurses spend more time at the patients bedside, they work under inhumane conditions in the wards. They are overworked and underpaid. What an aberration and travesty of justice. I urge you sir to revisit this new policy and ensure that NYSC nurses in the employ of sokoto state earn remunerations commensurate with the load they carry at work.
In November 2015, you ordered the immediate reabsorbtion of 50 Sure-p midwives and nurses into the sokoto primary healthcare agency after the federal government had ordered the winding down of SURE-P. We need you to stand up for us and take a stand. Nurses are not medical technicians and we deserve better.
I trust you would do the needfull
Jude Chiedu writes for Nursingworldnigeria.com
http://www.medicalworldnigeria.com/2016/06/dear-gov-tambuwal-nurses-are-not-technicians-by-jude-chiedu

Honestly I don't understand the discrimination against graduate nurses. I think they should be regarded higher or at least at par with pharmacists. I suspect the root cause is the indistinction between the different categories of nurses in our health care system.

Chartey:
Honestly I don't understand the discrimination against graduate nurses. I think they should be regarded higher or at least at par with pharmacists. I suspect the root cause is the indistinction between the different categories of nurses in our health care system.

The Industrial court in 1981 rated Nursing same as Pharmacy, 35 years later the court decision is yet to be implemented.
Very pathetic I must say.

No wonder JOHESU has been unable to execute the strike action they had declared to take effect from June 1. The house is divided, graduate nurses marginalized, even radiographers earn more than graduate nurses.
Pharmacists that are like 4th party in patients management are regarded higher than nurses in hospital setting, Na wa o...