Thirteen graduates of Nursing Science at the Pamo University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Port Harcourt will be offered employment after their internship at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH).
Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of the university, Sir (Dr) Peter Odili announced this at the Induction ceremony of graduates of Nursing Science which held at the University campus, Iriebe, Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Dr. Odili, a former Governor of Rivers State, announced that all 13 Nursing Science inductees would serve their internship at the RSUTH, stating further that each graduand would receive a sum of N100, 000 while the best student from the various departments would receive N200, 000.
A rousing ovation greeted his offering of N500, 000 to Miss Samchisadede Glad A. who emerged the best graduating student in the 2021/2022 session. Dr. Odili also announced the donation of laptops, stethoscopes and other paraphernalia for nurses, to each of the inductees at the ceremony.
The former Rivers governor while wishing the graduands a successful career in their chosen field, gave kudos to Miss Samchisadede for excellent performance, adding that the young nurse has shown character, and that the university is proud of her.
“In all your lives, I urge you to be respectful and grateful to your parents. In addition to your parents, you should also appreciate Governor Nyesom Wike who gave you the platform to become nurses through the university”, he said.
Earlier at a press conference, Registrar/Secretary General of Nursery and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), Alhaji Faruk Umar Abubakar said the graduation and induction of the nurses is a dream come true not only for PUMS but for the NMCN whose major objective and reform agenda had been to provide graduate courses for the nursing profession in Nigeria.
“Before now, the trend of nursing education was more like hospital base nursing education. We are happy today that all Colleges of Nursing has been transformed into a collegiate system”, he said, adding that there are presently over 43 accredited Dept of Nursing Science all over the country, while 23 has been granted approval, including PUMS. Abubakar further disclosed that in a few years to come, no less than 70 universities across the country would be offering degrees in Nursing Science.
“The focus of NMCN is to inject benevolent, competent and highly professional nurses that are capable of handling healthcare at all levels of healthcare delivery system”, he assured.
On the perception of nursing being a female dominated discipline, the NMCN scribe said Council at it’s 27th general meeting took a resolution directing that each institution offering Nursing Science should increase it’s admission quota of males by 25%.
“In line with the SDG which talked about gender balance, males balance has to be given consideration”, he said, adding that the imbalance is more pronounced in the southern part of Nigeria as the ratio is fifty-fifty in the North.
