The principal function of the Council is to protect the public from harmful or unprofessional practices by ensuring that clients receive care from competent and ethically behaved nurses and midwives.
• The National Council set standards of professional education, practice including professional conduct of nurses and midwives and determine their scope of practice.
• The National Council ensure that the public receives care from only nurses and midwives who meet the required qualifications for provision of safe and effective care.
In order to ensure that educational and practice standards are met, the NCNM carries out the following:
• Establish pre-requisites for entry to the nursing and midwifery professions
• Set standards for opening and running nursing and midwifery institutions/ programmes
• Approve programme curricula
• Collaborate with relevant educational establishments that have quality of education in their responsibilities
• Audit and approve nursing and midwifery educational institutions or programmes
• Monitor regularly nursing and midwifery educational institutions to ensure that they continue to meet the set standards
• Take appropriate measures for the institutions that do not meet the standards
• Register and issue certificates to all eligible nurses and midwives
• Issue and renew licenses to only those who continue to meet practice standards
• Withdraw license from anyone who abrogates the code of professional conduct
• Ensure that nurses and midwives continue to demonstrate that their professional knowledge is updated in relation to areas of their practice