FEDUSA Celebrates International Nurses Day
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) would like to join millions of South Africans and the global nursing community in celebrating International Nursing Day under the theme ‘Nursing: A Voice to Lead – Achieving Sustainable Development Goals’.
While International Nursing Day is celebrated internationally to mark 12th May 1920, the day that Florence Nightingale, a social reformer and statistician, widely regarded as the mother of modern nursing, was born in Victorian England, FEDUSA would like to take this opportunity to recognize the long and emotionally taxing hours that nurses put up with to make our lives more comfortable.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) would like to join millions of South Africans and the global nursing community in celebrating International Nursing Day under the theme ‘Nursing: A Voice to Lead – Achieving Sustainable Development Goals’.
While International Nursing Day is celebrated internationally to mark 12th May 1920, the day that Florence Nightingale, a social reformer and statistician, widely regarded as the mother of modern nursing, was born in Victorian England, FEDUSA would like to take this opportunity to recognize the long and emotionally taxing hours that nurses put up with to make our lives more comfortable.
The Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa), FEDUSA’s affiliate in the healthcare sector says it would like to encourage nurses to continue being the lifeblood of the country’s health care system where corruption and mismanagement have led to decreasing working conditions in public health facilities.
Hospersa says nurses have a critical role to play in South Africa where nursing staff shortages, corruption and poor working conditions characterise the country’s deteriorating health care system.
“Hospersa recognises the role played by nurses in our communities where they work under severe pressure on day to day basis .The public often points the finger of blame to nurses when there is a shortage of medication and long waiting queues in public clinics and hospitals. “Instead, nurses should be applauded for being the lifeblood of a health care system plagued with maladministration and corruption,” says Hospersa General Secretary Noel Desfontaines.
“According to 2015 figures compiled by the South African Nursing Council, for every 402 people in South Africa, there is only one registered nurse to see to them. It is estimated that one nurse does the work of three to four nurses as a result of staff shortage in public health facilities.
“We have raised the staff shortage issue in public health with the Department of Health (DoH) on numerous occasions with little response.
“Poor working conditions and being overworked are driving many health care workers to leave public health for better opportunities. What is more alarming is that the DoH is not filling these vacant posts while many qualified health care workers remain on the unemployment lines,” added Desfontaines.
Desfontaines urged nurses to speak out against corrupt officials in their workplaces as ultimately it is their jobs that get affected the most and that it was them that have to explain to patients why certain medication are not available which often leads to poor staff morale.
He said working conditions were so poor at public health facilities that another government department, the Department of Labour (DoL) has issued the DoH with a section 7 notice over the many Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) contraventions.
“Hospersa has since met with the DoL Chief Inspector on 13 March 2017, to table some of the OHS transgressions by the DoH. Some of the transgressions include the government’s failure to protect health care workers from contracting TB in the workplace as well as unsafe working conditions where nurses work in dilapidated buildings, “he said.
“Nurses put their lives at risk everyday by working under such unsafe conditions, we call on the DoH to address all the OHS issues as instructed by the DoL so working conditions in public health facilities can be improved. Nurses spend most of their time in hospitals and clinics looking after the ill with limited resources,” said Desfontaines. Their role in our clinics and hospitals ensures that health care reaches the most vulnerable South Africans who depend on it the most. Nurses remain the thread holding the public health care system together where mismanagement, corruption and staff shortage continue to paralyse it.
FEDUSA would also like to use this day progressively by improving the salaries and working conditions of our nurses as a mark of appreciation of the invaluable services that they offer the nation on a daily basis.
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FEDUSA is the largest politically non-aligned trade union federation in South Africa and represents a diverse membership from a variety of sectors in industry. See www.fedusa.org.za for more information.
For interviews please contact:
Frank Nxumalo
FEDUSA Media and Research Officer
Email: research@fedusa.org.za
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