Tebogo Msimanga |
As the state President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Thursday, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) is expecting the President to put in a lot of focus on the National Health Insurance (NHI) plans, as well as on the country’s deteriorating healthcare services as many South Africans and patients are being deprived of quality healthcare due to ongoing gross shortages of staff and resources in facilities.
DENOSA General Secretary DENOSA Kwena Manamela said they also expect the South African government to not be part of the ongoing global phenomenon whereby developed and developing countries are poaching the few nurses in low-income countries that are struggling to produce appropriate numbers of healthcare professionals as a result of their poor economic standing.
“In August last year, the South African government included on its scarce skills list a number of nursing specialisations. South Africa has been silent on the NHI, although the implementation year for this system is 2026”.
Manamela further said the country’s public healthcare system is experiencing a shocking shortage of around 27 000 nurses when there are roughly 5000 nurses who are just sitting at home looking for work.
“DENOSA’s major concern is that, due to South Africa’s unresolved challenge of producing specialist nurses from its system, the country is well on its way to becoming the disruptor of healthcare services in many African countries as many nurses in those countries would be willing to come to South Africa when their countries can barely afford to produce specialist”.
