Nurses at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, have kicked against what they described as the humiliation of being forced to clean hospital floors and dispose of waste following an industrial action by hospital cleaners.
PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the development occurred in one of the hospital’s units after cleaners embarked on a strike, leaving the facility without sanitation staff.
In response, nurses were allegedly directed by management, through an acting unit supervisor, to take over cleaning duties, including mopping floors and emptying waste bins.
The incident has reignited long-standing concerns over the routine assignment of non-nursing duties to nurses in public hospitals, a practice stakeholders say erodes professional boundaries and negatively affects patient care.
A nurse in the affected unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the directive as demoralising and degrading, insisting that cleaning hospital premises fell outside the scope of nursing practice.
“This is why nursing will never earn respect in the hospital setting in Nigeria,” the nurse lamented.
She disclosed that the substantive head of the unit, who has been on leave since late November and is expected to resume duties on Monday, had earlier warned staff against engaging in tasks unrelated to nursing care.
However, the acting supervisor allegedly ignored the instruction and compelled nurses to carry out the cleaning duties during her absence.
According to the nurse, tensions escalated after a meeting in the unit, prompting her to openly declare before colleagues and patients that she would no longer perform non-nursing jobs.
“I told everyone present, including patients, that from now on I won’t do any non-nursing work,” she said.
She further claimed that after some nurses resisted the directive, the acting supervisor, said to be about 60 years old, went on to mop the floors and empty waste bins alone, while another nurse of the same rank also refused to participate.
The nurse added that the unit’s chairperson of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) had earlier cautioned nurses against undertaking non-nursing duties, a stance that emboldened some staff to resist the order.
She noted that no disciplinary action was taken against her for refusing to clean, but warned that the issue might be escalated if similar pressure resumes when the unit head returns.
Calling for unity within the profession, the nurse urged colleagues, especially younger nurses, to collectively defend professional standards in Nigerian hospitals.
“I’m also talking to young nurses like me to join the fight to make nursing in Nigeria what it should be,” she said.
Meanwhile, a photograph circulating on social media showing nurses cleaning sections of the hospital has fuelled public outrage, highlighting growing frustration among healthcare workers over poor working conditions and role encroachment in public health facilities.
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