You Are Grossly Incompetent And Bias, Nurses Tell CMD, FMC Katsina.

The National Association Of Nigerian Nurses And midwives, NANNM Katsina state chapter has accused the Chief medical director of the institution Dr Suleiman Muhammed of gross incompetence and being over biased which was said to have manifested in the various ways he has handled issues relating to Nurses and Nursing profession since he assumed office as the Medical Director of the institution.

According to the source, at the moment it is seen to be so glaring that even the blind can see through his intrinsic motives of relegating an independent profession (Nursing) to the background in the health sector. His unfavourable and intellectually stagnant policies aimed at relegating the nursing profession and crippling our collective efforts to put in our best in uplifting the quality of care we render to our teaming clients in this institution for the purpose of maintaining peace and harmonious relationship currently existing among Nurses and other healthcare professionals is not in the best interest of our service consumers.

Dr Suleiman Muhammed Was said to have issued a directive mandating Nurses to be subjects to Medical Doctors in their administrative duties, that Nurses night duties rooms in the Emergency Paediatric unit, Accident and Emergency unit and host of other units be taken from them and turned to Doctors resting rooms.

It is also on record that a newly recruited Consultant on the order of the CMD broke into the office of an Assistant Director Of Nursing Service in same institution where the consultant unjustly occupied the said office and no iota of compensation was made to the affected party who had some of his personal items damaged and lost in the process.

Under his watch, the Nurses call rooms could be likened to condemned criminal cells while their Medical counterparts’ call rooms can be likened to that of king’s palace across the Hospital.

The load that literally broke the camels back was his last order mandating Nurses to report directly to medical doctors in their various units while applying for annual leaves, maternity leaves, sick leaves and so on,to bypass their Incharges, Supervisors and the HOD Nursing shows a gross lack of managerial skills that is core demand of the office of the Medical Director. His order that annual performance and evaluation report should now be subjected to approval by the doctors who are not directly working with the Nurses before he grants it attention it deserves shows the Lacuna in his managerial skills of personnel resources.

The association uses the opportunity to school Suleiman that Nursing is an independent profession just as the Medicine he practices. They also called his attention to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) award declaration of 1981, which states “Nursing is a profession ‘sui’ generis, subject to no directions or control whatsoever by any other profession”.

Oluwatosin K. Odunayo

FNA News.