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Student nurses from the US visit DENOSA
DENOSA hosted 20 honours student nurses under the International scholarship from the United States on Friday 20 May. Students are from different countries and are in South Africa for some learning on the country's health system. The group also handed over a hounorary certificate to DENOSA for its voice on nursing issues.
DENOSA 1st Deputy President, Modise Letsatsi, took the students through the country health policy shift towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, namely the National Health Insurance (NHI), which aims to realise equal access to quality healthcare for all South Africans.
"Our NHI is the equivalent of your Obama Care in the US," explained Letsatsi.
"The current medical health system is more expensive than the US even, although we have the highest unemployment rate in the country, which is currently at 26 percent."
He said DENOSA strongly advocates for the NHI because its reach is wide and all-encompassing, "although that put us on a collision cause with pharmaceutical companies" and private healthcare providers as their survival will be threatened by NHI.
Letsatsi said backing the NHI is almost the only option we have, and he urged the guests to advocate for it wherever they go.
"In Sierra Leone, when our brothers were hit by the Ebola outbreak, the outbreak didn't get out of hand because of the inability of healthcare workers in that country, but because of the fact that you have to pay out of your pocket before you are treated."
Team leader Jacqueline Kosakowski said the US still has a challenge of lack of access to healthcare for some citizens who don't have insurance, and that is what brought about the Obama Care.
"We also have a shortage of nurses. I've been a nurse for a long time
. We also have a shortage of nurse tutors in faculties and colleges," she added.
"We've come quite far with the profession in the US, and it has not been easy. We don't have a nursing association as strong as DENOSA in the US, which plays that liaison role with government," said Jaqueline.
. We also have a shortage of nurse tutors in faculties and colleges," she added. "We've come quite far with the profession in the US, and it has not been easy. We don't have a nursing association as strong as DENOSA in the US, which plays that liaison role with government," said Jaqueline.
Letsatsi explained the current challenge in the nursing profession in the country: "The image of nursing is getting a serious knock, and there is a media hype that rides on this perception. But in our community engagements it appears that this perception is held by a few. The majority people seem to be able to separate the system challenges that make nurses to look bad. And this perception seems to be assisting the private healthcare, because people who generally have this perception see the private sector as the only option. But we have the DENOSA Professional Institute (DPI), which comes up with programmes that address some omissions in the profession so that nursing does not suffer public image."
nurses to look bad. And this perception seems to be assisting the private healthcare, because people who generally have this perception see the private sector as the only option. But we have the DENOSA Professional Institute (DPI), which comes up with programmes that address some omissions in the profession so that nursing does not suffer public image."DENOSA also took the visiting students through the profession's latest developments such as CPD and the new curriculum.
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