CALABAR — Cross River State’s public health facilities are facing a severe shortage of nurses and midwives, even as many hospitals and primary health centres grapple with decaying infrastructure and lack of essential equipment.
State Chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Comrade Josephine Ikpeme Bassey, disclosed this during the ongoing Nurses Week celebration.
According to Comrade Bassey, the Cross River State Government currently employs only 566 nurses and midwives across the 18 Local Government Areas. This figure includes nurses teaching in the four Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery in Calabar, Ogoja, Obudu, and Itigidi.
Breakdown of Nurses in Selected General Hospitals
| Facility | Number of Nurses |
| General Hospital, Calabar | 97 |
| General Hospital, Ogoja | 76 |
| General Hospital, Ugep | 26 |
| General Hospital, Obanliku | 22 |
| General Hospital, Okpoma, Yala | 11 |
| General Hospital, Ukem, Odukpani | 2 |
Primary Health Centres in Crisis
The situation is worse at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level. All PHCs in Calabar Municipality have only 10 nurses, while those in Calabar South have five. Obanliku has four nurses, and Etung Local Government Area has no single nurse or midwife.
Statewide, the 196 Primary Health Centres have a combined total of just 99 nurses and midwives, creating a deficit of 97 against the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, which recommends at least one midwife in every PHC.
Comrade Bassey stated that secondary health facilities in the state urgently require 500 additional nurses, while the PHCs need about 200 more. She recommended the recruitment of at least 100 nurses annually to bridge the widening gap.
The NANNM chairman recalled that two years ago, the association proposed the employment of 136 nurses. It took over a year for only 57 appointment letters to be issued, and some of the newly employed nurses later moved to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital when recruitment opportunities arose there.
Poor Infrastructure and Welfare Concerns
Beyond staffing, Comrade Bassey decried the poor state of health infrastructure, noting that most facilities lack basic equipment and consumables needed for effective service delivery.
On welfare, she lamented that nurses in the state are placed on the Revised Salary Structure instead of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) applicable nationwide. She noted that only 70 percent of CONHESS was approved under former Governor Liyel Imoke, while the current administration of Governor Bassey Edet Otu approved an additional 15 percent increment that is yet to be implemented. This has resulted in nurses being underpaid by about 30 percent.
Despite these challenges, Comrade Bassey commended the commitment of nurses who continue to render services under difficult conditions while also pursuing regular training and retraining.
She appealed to the state government to urgently recruit more nurses, improve working conditions, and provide necessary infrastructure and consumables to strengthen the health system.
