The federal government has announced plans to enrol 100,000 nurses by the end of 2024, according to Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare.
Alausa made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, saying that the Federal Government, leveraging existing infrastructure in FMCs across the country, had set a target of enrolling 100,000 nurses by the end of 2024.
“As the Federal Government continues to put in effective measures to achieve universal health coverage in Nigeria even through the provision of accessible, affordable, and qualitative healthcare services, strategic efforts are geared towards increasing and upscaling human resources for health,” Alausa said.
He said this at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on behalf of the Federal Government and Plateau State Government on the takeover and upgrade of General Hospital Wase to Federal Medical Centre Wase and National Orthopaedic Hospital Jos held in Abuja
Informing that 65,000 nurses had already been enrolled in nursing schools across the country, Alausa explained that the government had mandated all FMCs in the country to establish nursing schools within their facilities and noted that one would also be cited in FMC Wase.
The Minister stated that the takeover, which was one of many across the different geopolitical zones, was part of the government’s effort to reduce the physical and financial pain of Nigerians through the provision of accessible, qualitative, and affordable healthcare services.
He also disclosed that the government had recently concluded talks with Lagos State on converting the state’s College of Medicine to the University of Health Science.
Further stating that 500 medical students will be admitted at the start of the university’s academic session in September and that other states, Ogun and Kwara, have indicated interest in developing such partnerships.
