Chijioke Iremeka The President of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Michael Nnachi has called on state governors and the Federal Government to extend the retirement age of nurses from 60 to 65 years. Nnachi said there had been a long-standing agitation for the past eight years for the review of the retirement age of nurses for both state and federal government employment, especially now that the japa syndrome had depleted the healthcare workforce and increased the workload. Reacting to the move by the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, to extend the retirement age for nurses in the state from 60 to 65 years in an exclusive interview with PUNCH Healthwise, the NANNM’s president said the proposed increase, would motivate the nurses and also reduce the brain in the health sector.
He commended Otti for extending the retirement age of nurses to 65 which he noted would boost healthcare delivery in the state. Recall that Otti said that the state government will soon announce a new retirement age for nurses in the state from 60 to 65 years. The governor disclosed this on Friday at the Government House, Umuahia, during his monthly interactive session with journalists.
“The whole idea is to reverse medical tourists into Abia,” Otti said. The japa syndrome has significantly depleted the existing healthcare workforce, leading to overwhelming workloads and the stretching of few available health workers in the country including nurses. The Registrar of the Nursing.