The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) has approved the establishment of the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin City to commence the training of nurses and midwives in the state from October 2021.
The approval followed the weekend visit of the NMCN accreditation team to the remodeled state-owned tertiary institution, which had lost its accreditation since 2012.
The upgrade of the school’s facilities by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led state government is in furtherance of its efforts at ending medical tourism in the state, improving the health sector to meet global standards and building the right human capital to drive the change in the health sector through the promotion of health education.
Conveying the approval in a letter, Secretary General/Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Faruk Umar Abubakar, said the College has provisional accreditation for the General Nursing and Basic Midwifery programmes, with effect from October 2021.
The letter reads: “the Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria pursuant to Section 14 (Sub-section 1 and 2) of the Act 143, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), has approved the establishment of the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin City, Edo State.
“In the light of that, I wish to convey the Board’s approval to commence training of Nurses and Midwives at the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin City, Edo State. The approvals are as follows:
“General Nursing Programme-Provisional Accreditation Status of one hundred (100) Students’ intake with effect from October 2021.
“Basic Midwifery Programme-Provisional Accreditation Status of one hundred (100) Students’ intake with effect from October, 202.”
Obaseki, speaking at an inspection of the institution’s facilities ahead of the NMCN accreditation team’s visit, said, “Staff have been recruited; work on the physical structure is on; equipment for the demonstration laboratory has been purchased and by weekend, all of these will be installed.”
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He added: “We have continued to make improvements in our human capacity development. As a government, we will continue to build the human capacity of our people as physical infrastructure alone will not do it.”
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has reassured that his government will sustain investment in the state’s healthcare system, ensuring equitable access to quality and affordable healthcare to every Edo citizen.
The governor, who noted that his administration is committed to ending medical tourism in the state, said the state is improving and repositioning the health sector to meet global standards.
Obaseki, who said this during an inspection of facilities at the state-owned School of Nursing and Midwifery in Benin City, noted that the institution will boost human capacity development and ensure the needed change in the healthcare system in Edo State.
The governor, who expressed satisfaction with the pace of work at the school, said his government plans to expand Stella Obasanjo Hospital and build a mother and child medical facility, among other projects to strengthen the state’s healthcare system.
He restated that the development will improve maternal and child care health indices, as well as further help to achieve universal and comprehensive healthcare coverage in the state.
According to him, “We have put in place the health insurance scheme; we would be laying the foundation for the expansion of Stella Obasanjo Hospital to provide additional healthcare services to Edo people.
“The Federal Government will be building an orthopaedic hospital in the same location. We are talking to investors that want to build another mother and child hospital; a state-of-the-art diagnostic centre is also coming in there.”
