Ethiopia Ministry of Health seeks Nursing and Midwifery Council’s support to conduct online licensing examination

An 8-member delegation from the Health Professionals Competency Assessment & Licensure Directorate of the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia has embarked on a one-week study tour at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC) of Ghana to understudy its operations, particularly the conduct its online licensing examinations.

The delegation is also seeking the technical support of the Council to establish a Nursing and Midwifery Council in Ethiopia.

Leader of the Ethiopian delegation, Tewodros Abebaw, Director of the Health Professionals Competency Assessment & Licensure Directorate stated that their one-week visit is to afford them the opportunity to learn from Ghana’s experience and speed up their process of setting up their own Nursing and Midwifery Council.

According to Mr. Abebaw, the greatest priority of their agenda was to seek technical support from the N&MC to conduct online licensing examinations for their nursing and midwifery candidates. He lauded Ghana’s achievement as the first on the African continent to introduce an online licensing examination as part of its regulatory functions.

He disclosed that the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia chose to understudy Ghana due to its credibility and integrity in building a robust regulatory system for the training, education and practice of nursing and midwifery.

“The government of Ethiopia and the people are happy and well-informed about the help that N&MC is providing other African countries to strengthen their regulatory systems and we would want to be part of this success story,” he said.

The Registrar of the N&MC, Felix Nyante welcomed the delegation and expressed Ghana’s willingness to help in providing technical assistance to Ethiopia to conduct its online licensing examinations and also set up its Nursing and Midwifery Council.

He thanked them for their confidence in Ghana’s system and said various technocrats at the N&MC will take turns to share lessons with them during their study.

Mr. Nyante said it is laudable that Ethiopia is embarking on the journey to provide a regulatory body for its nursing and midwifery profession, adding that N&MC was prepared for cooperation, collaboration and will assist in the restructuring and transformation of the nursing and midwifery regulatory system and operations in Ethiopia.

He emphasized that since the introduction of the online licensing examinations in 2018, more countries continue to send delegates to understudy the operations of the Council. Countries such as The Gambia, Sierra Leonne, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and Liberia have in recent times visited the Council.

He disclosed that the N&MC has provided technical assistance to the Liberia Board of Nursing and Midwifery (LBNM) to conduct licensing examinations for its Nurses and Midwives. “This week a team of technocrats from the N&MC are in Liberia to supervise the LBNM to conduct its first online licensing examinations for their Nursing and Midwifery Candidates from October 27-29, 2021.

He continued by saying that, the Council will continue to provide professional and technical support to countries who would want to strengthen their nursing and midwifery regulation.