A sit-in scheduled by about 200 unemployed nurses outside the North West Health Department (NWDoH) on Monday was postponed following talks with the department.
The sit-in was to be led by the DENOSA (Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa) Student Movement, to demand immediate employment of the nurses as the provincial health institutions battle with a shortage of nursing staff.
The union said that the nurses had completed their community service in June last year, and were promised appointment letters before the 2024/25 financial year.
“ But that did not happen, as institutions say they don’t have a budget for the 2024/25 financial year. This means colleges and universities are producing nurses for the streets, and not clinics and hospitals anymore,” said DENOSA North West Student Movement Provincial Secretary, Mothusi Lebatle.
Mothusi said the sit-in was rescheduled because Denosa had engaged with the department and North West Health MEC, Madoda Sambatha, on Sunday.
“The MEC and team requested to be given at least a week to engage the departmental administration, so they can finalise the administration part and revert back to us with a positive answer.
“In the meeting, the department has confirmed the amount of R100 million allocation to Health for the appointments of nurses post concurrence reviews, between Health and Treasury,” said Mothusi.
The MEC also agreed that the administration would deal with the adverts for nurses who completed their community service between January and June this year.
The Star
hope.mafu@inl.co.za