COVID-19: Nurses in Enugu protest lack of PPE in ESUTH

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), Parklane on Wednesday embarked on a peaceful protest demanding for sufficient protective equipment for them.

Recall that the nurses were seen singing songs asking the state government to provide Personal Protective Equipment including hand sanitisers, face masks and hand gloves to fight the coronavirus.

The nurses said they would no longer work until government provided the equipment for them, thereby leaving patients in the hospital at their mercy.

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In a swift reaction, the hospital management said that the State Multi-Sectoral Rapid Response Team including the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), WHO, UNICEF and other development partners had provided enough materials for the hospital.

The hospital made the reaction in a joint statement signed by the Chief Medical Director of ESUTH, Prof Hyacinth Onah, Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) and state Chairman NANNM, Comrade Innocent Ezema.

Others that signed the statement are the Head Nursing Services (HNS) at the hospital, Mrs Fidelia Chinawa and the state Chairman, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Ben Asogwa.

According to the statement, these nurses were a few who were apprehensive of their frontline status in the management of COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement assured the public that the hospital would continue to render health services at the highest level of care as the case had been.

Source: Vanguard