Strong commendations and accolades were showered on the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for his positive disposition to matters affecting nurses working in the State Government hospitals.
They were made at the Y2024 Strategic Leadership Retreat For Nurses held at the Orchid Hotel, Lekki.
The two-day retreat, organised by the Lagos State Health Service Commission, witnessed the presence of 150 senior nurses, including Ward Managers and Apex Nurses, chosen from all the 32 General Hospitals in the state.
Speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary of the Commission, Dr Ademuyiwa Benjamin Eniayewun, commended the Governor for all he has done and is still doing for medical practitioners in the state, especially the nurses.
He said, “Though it is bad that ‘Japa’ people are leaving with expertise and experience, Mr. Governor has done everything humanly possible to ameliorate the negative impact of the syndrome in the health sector, by giving a series of approvals for the appointment and recruitment of medical practitioners, especially Nurses, so operational activities wouldn’t be grounded in our hospitals”.
He equally advised nurses to work smart and always collaborate with other disciplines for enhanced service delivery. He further encouraged them to monitor the junior nurses under them, mentor them well, be good examples and show them love always for needed experience and good legacy so patients are not more worried about negative attitudes whenever they visit hospitals for medical attention.
In her welcome address, Director of Nursing Services, Nurse Adebukonla Cole, thanked Mr. Governor and First Lady, Mrs. Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu for their role in ensuring Nurses are getting necessary attention and support to perform better in the line of duty.
She, therefore, charged the nurses to develop a new mindset of duty for the sake of patients and hospital improvement.
Delivering a lecture on “Housekeeping Strategies for Customers Satisfaction”, Nurse Cole said the role of Ward Managers is to always ensure their Wards and environment are clean, in line with the dictates of Florence Nightingale’s theory.
“You own the Wards, let our Wards be clean, let our environment be clean, as cleanliness is next to Godliness, be fully engaged in leadership and team management, take ownership of hospital equipment and care for it as your own,” she said.
In their Goodwill messages, Commission Members Dr. Olumuyiwa Adetokunbo Solanke and Dr. Mobolaji Ayotunde Olukoya, Commissioners I & II, respectively, duly encouraged the nurses not to rest on their oars but be more efficient in the line of duty and to always have patients’ interest at heart.
They both thanked the nurses for staying back and not abandoning their duty posts for the so-called greener pasture overseas.
