The National Council for Nurses and Midwives has strongly lashed out people who masquerade as nurses and midwives saying they pose a serious threat to people’s lives.

This was raised after the new council registered a number of malpractices by people who claim to be nurses yet they are not registered with the new body.

"We have received cases of forged academic credentials, professional mistakes and unbelievable unethical practices,” Julie Kimonyo, a senior nurse and acting Registrar of the council told The New Times.

Kimonyo was speaking alongside Agnes Uwayezu, the Director of Nursing at King Faisal Hospital who chairs the National Council for Nurses and Midwives board and Mary Murebwayire, the Director of Nursing in the Ministry of Health who also doubles as a board member.

Murebwayire said that the council has received close to 6,000 applications from nurses and midwives.

The officials highlighted some of the cases of abuse they have received so far including one of Eleothere Nzaramba a former practitioner at Musaza Health Centre in Kirehe District who raped a mother in labour and disappeared.

Police is currently hunting for Nzaramba suspected to have fled to Tanzania.

Another case, also registered in Kirehe involves someone who was illegally carrying out circumcisions and infected many people with infectious diseases.

The council is charged with protecting the public from anything that may endanger their lives from actions by nurses and midwives.

It is also charged with protecting the nursing and midwives profession, as well as establishing relations with regional and international agencies and associations of nurses and midwives.

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