THE CHURCH AND THE HEALTH OF OUR NATION: A NEED FOR CONCERN.

THE CHURCH AND THE HEALTH OF OUR NATION: A NEED FOR CONCERN.

The church is expected to be the body of Christ, a group of people unified under Christ, who represent and reflect Him to the world.
Though, there are many influences in the world who claimed to have the truth but God entrusted His word to the church with the task to teach the body sound doctrine.

Still, knowledge of doctrine is useless if it is not used. So, Christ himself gave the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to equip His people for works of service in order for the body of Christ to be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven"
( Matthew 5:14-16 )

In the above scripture, Jesus is admonishing the church to be a shining light, an example to the world in terms of good deeds, in obedience to the living God.
 This includes our character, conduct, actions and our spoken testimony.

It is disheartening to note that the Church who is supposed to be a model when it comes to morals, helping the poor and creating a healthy society is at the forefront of corruption, rituals and of recent, quackery.

I used to think that all these Christ apostolic Churches (C A C) are the major culprit when it comes to quacks taking deliveries  because I have seen and know of many with Maternity homes and Mission houses. Some of them refer their patients to government hospitals after trying various means without success and many of these patients die on the long run while the little that survive has one complication or the other to live with for the rest of life. One thing I like about these set of people is that they do not address themselves as Nurses but "Iya abiye"  " Iya abiwere" and the likes.

I was dumbfounded yesternight when I saw a particular video where the Founder of Omega Power Ministry was seen shamelessly strutting about 50 quacks he allegedly sponsored to be trained as Nurses. I would not have been bothered if he had addressed those dropouts as "Auxiliaries or better still, traditional birth attendants"
( TBA ) but addressing them as NURSES trained for just 3 weeks was not only embarrassing but a Public show of shame, stupidity and foolishness of the the highest order from the self acclaimed man of God. Excuse me, are we saying that the so called Man of God does not know the difference between Professional Nurses and quacks? Are we saying there is no Professional Nurse amidst his congregation to correct him of his nasty mistake when the notification of such training was sent to the congregation?
Are we saying he does not know what it takes to be a Professional Nurse or he was just doing that to ridicule the Nursing Profession? I still find it difficult to believe that a course of almost 4 years in SON and 6 years in the university ( internship included) is being learnt in 3 weeks!

Maternal mortality described as death among women as a result of pregnancy-related cases is one of the greatest health challenges facing Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria has unenviable distinction of having the second highest Maternal mortality rate in the world today.
Statistics paint an alarming figure of 111 Nigerian women dying daily as a result of pregnancy- related complications, equivalent to two aircraft crashing every day!

Most of these deaths are as a result of poverty, poorly handled deliveries, cephalo-pelvic disproportion, trauma and hemorrhage amongst others.
Should it now be heard that a Church who is supposed to be an advocate for safe Motherhood is the one abating and breeding quacks thereby putting the lives of these innocent soon to be mothers in greater dangers?

I heard one of the beneficiaries of the auxiliary training program in the viral video said she had been taught the management of hypo and hyperglycemia,
how to give intramuscular injections and most importantly how to go into the veins and put up an IV infusion. She further said she could detect if a pregnant woman has  aminotic flud ( amniotic fluid ) in her womb through a measuring tape as presence of amniotic fluid is detrimental to the health of the mother and the fetus. What a world in which we find ourselves! Little wonder Nigeria was rated as low as 187 out of 190 in Healthcare in the world, even Liberia was rated over us.

" The wealth of our nation depends on the health of our nation and the health of our nation depends of Nurses". ( Dr. Judith, President, ICN )

It is no longer news that in the developed countries where our Politicians seeks Medical care has standardized Healthcare because Nurses over there are been treated with highest level of respect, they are motivated and as a result, they are able to practice to the full form of their training.
Recently, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole introduced a Doctor's stamp in a bid to control quackery in the Medical Profession while Nursing was left unattended to, forgetting that Nigeria will remain at the this low level of Healthcare ranking or even lower if nothing is done to regulate the practice and advent of quacks in Nursing Profession.

Every profession has a Professional body that regulates the training and practices of such a Profession. Such bodies sets and maintain standard guiding the Profession and take drastic actions when such standards are being compromised. We hear of NMA, NUJ, NUT, NBA etc. Ask a primary school pupil the full meaning of NUJ, such pupil will tell you from his sleep but so unfortunate such cannot be said of the Nursing Professional body (NANNM). I wonder if she still exists and if she does, she is the most useless Professional body I have ever seen. I stand to be corrected!

If Churches wants to assist in the reduction of Maternal mortality rate through safe Motherhood programs, there are various means of doing so. One is by empowering these pregnant women as poverty contributes largely to Maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.
Another thing to do is training qualified personnel to provide safe and cost effective Antenatal and post natal care for these Mothers rather than toying with their precious lives in the hands of quacks and half baked care providers.

Omega Power Ministries, Nurses (the pest in our midst), Doctors and all others Organizations training quacks should please take note that it is the worst damage anybody can do to the Nursing profession and the health of our Nation.

Nursing is sue generis. It is a profession with ethical and Scientific principles and not a vocation that can be learnt through a skill acquisition program.

Oluwatosin Kehinde Odunayo (RN,BNSc in view),

Crew member, Nurses On Air (NOA),

Member, Institute of Nursing Research (INR)

Team Lead, fellowNurses group.

Tel:08134582082, 08066177608

Edited by: Olugbesan Omotunde Elizabeth