The vetting exercise carried out by the National Council of Nurses and Midwives to ascertain whether nurses seeking employment in Rwanda have genuine qualifications is a welcome development.Information from Ministry of Health indicates that the Nursing Council has close to 11,000 files of nurses being verified and slightly over 3,000 are already complete.Apparently the crackdown has already found that 30 nurses were in possession of forged academic transcripts.Quack medics should not be permitted to endanger the lives of unsuspecting people who entrust their lives with them. It is important to extend quality health services to all Rwandans. And patients can only get proper treatment from qualified staff.The Council and the Ministry of Health should put up tougher mechanisms to prevent quacks from penetrating the health system.This calls for regular inspection, supervision, appraisal and provision of avenues through which the public can report suspected fraud.Also, the Council should be empowered in terms of capacity to thoroughly verify qualifications of all practicing nurses in the country.
