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Media Statements

DENOSA recruitment campaign taken to Western Cape

DENOSA recruitment in the Karoo

DENOSA lead a nurses’ march to Western Cape provincial legislature about poor working conditions

MEDIA INVITATION

Thursday, 11 May 2017

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Western Cape will lead thousands of nurses in the province in commemorating International Nurses Day (IND) on Saturday 13 May at the Show Grounds in Beaufort West where they will reflect on both successes and challenges that nursing is faced with.

The theme for this year’s International Nurses Day is: ‘Nurses: A Voice To Lead – Achieving Sustainable Development Goals’, which calls on all nurses throughout the world to do their bit in every SDG, as each is closely linked to health. It also calls on nurses to come forth and show the role they are playing in the achievement of every SDG.

DENOSA 1^st Deputy President, Modise Letsatsi, stakeholders and DENOSA provincial leadership will address nurses, who will be coming from all corners of the province, about many challenges that the profession is faced with in the province. These challenges will make the role of nurses in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) almost impossible if they are not addressed with urgency.

The United Nations (UN) launched 17 SDGs in September 2015 as new goals for the world to strive to achieve by year 2030. Goal 1, for example, calls on the world to have No Poverty. Goal 2 calls for Zero Hunger. Goal 3, which is health related, calls for Good Health and Wellbeing among citizens.

Because other SDGs are closely linked to health and are what we term Social Determinants of Health (SDH), achievement of other goals will almost automatically or indirectly lead to the achievement of SDG 3 which talks to health.

DENOSA is proud that in South Africa, nurses are committed to achieving the SDGs, and that many constraints in facilities are the main causes that restrict nurses from being highly effective. For example, many nurses especially in our rural facilities go an extra mile in their work by embarking on nutritious and gardening projects, but shortage in facilities restrict many nurses to clinics, CHCs and hospitals when they could be at schools, homes and other avenues.

DETAILS OF THE EVENT ARE AS FOLLOWS:

DATE: Saturday 13 May 2017

VENUE: Show Grounds, Beaufort West

CONTACT DETAILS: DENOSA Provincial Secretary: Danver Roman

MOBILE: 072 555 9565

DENOSA and the Department cordially invite members of the media to this event to Report. Thousands of nurses, who are majority health professionals in the country’s healthcare system, will grace the event with their presence as they commemorate the birth of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing.

For Media RSVP or for more information, contact DENOSA Communications Manager, Sibongiseni Delihlazo on 072 584 4175 or 079 875 2663.

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Challenges faced by nurses in the province

The challenges faced by nurses, however, are forever increasing, which makes it almost impossible for them to become as effective in achieving these SDGs. In Sub-Saharan Africa, which is burdened by high rate of diseases and illnesses among its people, the gross shortage of nurses at bedside is alarming. This gives no chance to nurses to be able to perform these other tasks that will help achieve other Goals as effectively as they would like to be.

Great and possible intervention by our government is desperately needed in this regard. Overhaul of provincial health department’s HR will become a real and tangible solution to this challenge. Mass exodus of nurses for greener pastures is slowly becoming another challenge that places the achievement of the goals as a further dream. Staff recruitment and retention mechanisms need to be the top priority for the provincial government. Proper planning for intake of student nurses and utilization of their service when they finish should not be the big problem that it currently is.

Occupation-Specific Dispensation (OSD), which was a great recruitment and retention strategy by government in 2007, which improved salaries of public servants the longer they stayed in government and perform and the more they acquired specialties, has since outlived its usefulness and has by far passed its sell-by-date. OSD for nurses should have been reviewed at least seven years ago. That has not happened, and there is no will that it will be reviewed anytime soon. More and more nurses now find no reason to stay in South Africa, and so they are leaving for greener pastures abroad. This challenge, if not resolved soon, will soon see SA with far fewer nurses than it already has.

THE SDGs