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MARCH 12, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 22 |
Nursing Trouble
By Eugenia Okpara, Owerri Thirteen aggrieved Students of the School of Nursing, Owerri have petitioned the Imo State House of Assembly over what they regard as deceit, utter marginalisation and inhuman treatment meted to them by the authorities of the School and the Ministry of Health. The students in the petition addressed to the Speaker, Kelechi Kennedy Nwagwu, captioned “S.O.S: A case of Deceit and Utter Marginalisation by School of Nursing, Owerri” alleged that after their Preliminary Training School (PTS) examination and interview in November 2004, they were admitted same month, and the Principal, Nora Iwenobi-Njoku, told them that 68 of them passed all the courses. Part of the petition read: "We, the underlisted student nurses of the School of Nursing, Owerri, wish to complain to you the inhuman treatment we have suffered in the hands of the authorities of the School of Nursing, Owerri, and the Ministry of Health, since November 2004 – that is two years now. "We were admitted in November 2004 following our examinations and interview, in which more than 500 students were admitted, instead of 100 into Preliminary Training School (PTS), of which the examination (PTS) was conducted. When the result came out 198 students passed, of which we were among”. The aggrieved students said that after the Principal addressed them, informing them that 68 of them passed all the courses, with some others failing one or two courses, she asked them to go home as she would inform them when the school would resume – a promise they said, she never kept, adding as she had earlier before the PTS examination told them that anybody that failed more than three courses would leave the School. “During the process of staying at home, 72 students, they alleged, were capped, including those that passed and those that failed, because she reportedly took gratification from them. When we heard this, the aggrieved students said, "we started disturbing her to include our names. After sometimes, she conceded, that is the students that failed one course keep-in-view 1 (KIV 1) status and another opportunity of repeating PTS and paying school fees and other fees for the second time”, the thirteen students alleged. According to the students, the group of students that failed two courses were given keep-in-view II (KIV 11) and directed to go to School of Midwifery, Aboh Mbaise, where PTS examination was conducted for them and 64 out of the 116 students passed very well, although she had told them before the second examination that the Nursing Council had decreed that only 50 students that passed well would be taken. The petition read in part: “The Principal refused to paste the result on the notice board and as usual instructed the PTS students to come to her office to see the result. That was where she manipulated the results, indicating that two or more students scored the same result and used the opportunity to favour her pearls. Later, she called the whole students and addressed us. In the meeting, she said 50 students should start school, that is resume classes, while the remaining 14 should stay at home until she comes back from Nursing Council. That was what she used last year to deceive us”. Continuing, they lamented that their obedience to her instruction was their undoing as they found out a month later that more than 50 students actually resumed classes, adding that when they went to her office to find out what happened, she alleged scolded to her and warned them not to come office and school again until they were asked to. “During the clinical experience, she posted 60 students for ward experience of which we the 14 students that passed were not included, so we started disturbing her again but to no avail. We had to go to the Ministry of Health to see the Commissioner, Permanent Secretary, and the Director to help us out. After that, she released our list and pasted it on the notice board”, they revealed. They further disclosed that when they came back to school for what they called block study, the Principal did not say anything about the issue, rather their names were allegedly removed by the Principal and replaced with those that failed. They said: “When we came back to school for block study, she didn’t address us on any issue. Along the line, we heard from the student that before we went for clinical experience that they filled index forms with those 10 students that failed and she replaced our names with their own. When we went for our index forms, she told us that Nursing Council had not approved our names while the other 10 that failed are in classroom with the fifty that passed”. They also alleged that “when all these things were happening other students that failed starting coming in through the back door. Another case came up again when a student that failed one course protested and requested for his result to be called up. At the end of the day, he was sorted out and has been indexed, leaving the rest of us who have not been indexed out of the class group. The annoying part of it is that she went to Nursing Council to index this vindicated boy that protested against his result, leaving us that were recognised before the vindicated boy”. The bubble, however, burst on Thursday, November 30, 2006 when, Iwenobi-Njoku informed them a day earlier, Wednesday November 29, 2006 that the Director would visit and so proceeded to sort out the class, with the 50 students directed to go to the School Library while the 10 students who failed were asked to go to the Principal’s office. On the other hand, the remaining 14 plus the 30 other students that allegedly came in through the back door to wait in class. The petition read in part: “When the Acting Director and her Assistant came in the company of our Principal, they said they were here because of us, not the other students. During their address, they said that they owe us, that is the 14 students an obligation. They said we should remain in the school indefinitely until Nursing Council approves our admission, or we go to school of Midwifery, Aboh Mbaise and start Preliminary Training School (PTS) again, with new school fees to be paid or we leave the school for another school (University). Then, they told the remaining 30 to leave (sic) the school to another school of their choice”. According to the embittered students, when they were asked for suggestions, they pleaded with the officials to consider them since they considered those that failed and the person that protested, how much more those that passed. Moreover, they stated that they are not getting younger and that their parents cannot pay school fees for the third time running for a particular programme. “During the meeting when we asked her about the 10 groups she indexed that replaced us, she referred to (sic) them as legal candidates and not us that passed very well. Please, the (sic) Speaker, our prayer is that the Honourable House should intervene in this matter by investigating our complaints and directing the school authority to index us and formalise our admission so that we can participate in examination and capping ceremony coming up very soon”, they pleaded. Unfortunately, the Principal has kept avoiding appearing before the House, giving one excuse or the other even when the matter was referred to the House Committee on Health, she did not appear, with her physician, Dr. Philip Njemanze, writing in to say that she cannot keep the appointment for the next two weeks. The letter addressed to the Chairman, House Committee on Health, dated February 27, 2007, captioned "Health condition of Nora Iwenobi-Njoku" and signed by Dr. Njemanze and copied to the Speaker read, "I wish to inform you that Nora Iwenobi-Njoku is my patient. She is sick and is currently admitted at Chidicom Medical Centre, No I Uratta/MCC Road Owerri”. Continuing, the letter read: “She informs me of her appointment to meet with the House Committee. I hereby advise that she is not in a good medical condition due to ill-health to meet up with any appointment in the next two weeks and that there may be deleterious consequences to her health if she is pressured to undergo any such stress. I plead with you to postpone all appointment until her full recovery. I welcome you to visit her in the hospital if you so desire. I thank you in anticipation”. Distraught, the 13 aggrieved students continue to hope, whilst bemoaning their fate. |
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