Sir – Hospersa [Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa] has called on the Department of Health as well as private health institutions to address the poor working conditions and remuneration shortfalls of nurses.
The union has highlighted many concerns affecting nurses in South Africa as the international community celebrates the role played by nurses. It has also vowed to continue campaigning for an improved health care service and improved working conditions for nurses in both the public and private sector.
On May 12, Hospersa joins the international community in celebrating International Nurses Day. This annual celebration looks to highlight the important role nurses play in the society and marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The International Council of Nurses leads these celebrations and this year’s theme is “Nursing: the balance of Mind, Body and Spirit”.
Hospersa embraces this theme and commends nurses for being the life blood of the health care system where many challenges beyond their control continue to paralyse it.
Nurses’ role in our clinics and hospitals ensures primary health care reaches the most vulnerable South Africans who depend on it the most. However, poor working conditions especially in public health facilities continues being a thorn in the flesh in the delivery of quality health care to many of the country’s communities.
There is also a high prevalence of work place infections of tuberculosis (TB), which is robbing the health sector of a skilled workforce consisting of predominantly nurses. According to the World Health Organisation, South Africa has the second-highest TB incidence among health care workers in the world. It is high time TB prevention among health workers, especially nurses, takes priority as they are at the cold face of both the HIV and TB epidemics.
Furthermore, the staff morale of nurses is very low due to meagre salaries, poor implementation of the nurses’ uniform allowance and non-translation of nurses who qualified to progress into higher positions, e.g. (Enrolled Nursing Assistants to Enrolled Nurses and Enrolled Nurses to Professional Nurses).
In the private sector, employers continue implementing less than favourable salary increases in an economic environment characterised by a weaker Rand and rising costs which have diminished nurses’ earnings.
To address OHS concerns in the workplace, we have partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) for collaborative efforts to tackle OHS challenges experienced by health workers including nurses. We have previously organised a number of marches to put pressure on the employer to address nurses’ issues with the most recent being in KZN last year.
Hospersa continues to fight for fair remuneration and better conditions of service at a number of private health institutions where we enjoy majority membership.
Kevin Halama – Hospersa Public Relations Officer
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