By Ismail Auwal
No fewer than 15,049 Nigerian-trained nurses were licensed to practice in the United Kingdom Within a five-year period spanning March 2017 to March 2021.
This was disclosed in a report released by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of the United Kingdom on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to the PUNCH newspaper, Nigeria is the third most populous country with foreign nurses in England, trailing only the Philippines and India.
The NMC is the UK body in charge of registering professionals who are eligible to practice in the UK. Concerns about nurses, midwives, and nursing assistants are also investigated by the body.
In the report, the NMC said, “The number of people on the permanent register in England who trained outside the European Economic Area continues to grow. As of March 2017, the body stated that 2,670 Nigerian nurses registered on the register. In March 2018, the body noted that 2,678 registered between March 2017 and March 2018.
“March 2019 saw a record of 2,771 while the number of nurses who registered between March 2019 and March 2020 increased to 3,205. Within this period, the body noted that it opened a temporary COVID-19 register to accommodate nurses willing to practise.”
Although the body did not state the number of Nigerian nurses on the temporary COVID-19 register, it stated that between March 2020 and March 2021, a total of 3,725 Nigerian nurses registered and were granted licenses.
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