Those ‘nursing the world to health’ need protection - Unions
|Published
INTERNATIONAL Nurses’ Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The International Council of Nurses commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses’ Day resources and evidence. Sister Tamara Govender, unit manager of the emergency department at Durban’s Ahmed Al-Kadi Private Hospital, marked the day yesterday. Leon Lestrade African News Agency(ANA) INTERNATIONAL Nurses’ Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The International Council of Nurses commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of the International Nurses’ Day resources and evidence. Sister Tamara Govender, unit manager of the emergency department at Durban’s Ahmed Al-Kadi Private Hospital, marked the day yesterday. Leon Lestrade African News Agency(ANA)
Durban - “Protect and appreciate us during these traumatic times,” was the call made by nurses yesterday in marking International Nurses’ Day.
Candlelight ceremonies were held across the country. Nurses were hailed for their bravery, working under difficult and risky working conditions.
Under the theme: “Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Nursing the World to Health”, the day highlighted the important role nurses play in society. It also marked the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, a trailblazer who influenced policies around proper medical care in the 19th and 20th centuries.
More than 500 health-care workers, predominantly nurses, have tested positive for Covid-19 in South Africa.
Unions said the profession this year was facing a new challenge - the Covid-19 pandemic.
They called for the protection of nurses and reiterated demands for sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), safer transport and counselling facilities.
Unions said the reports of many incidents where nurses were not provided with sufficient PPE and their cries for safer working conditions had fallen on deaf ears.
Some nurses said they were traumatised by the pandemic, and while they understood what they signed up for when they entered the profession, they were disappointed with the Department of Health for expecting them to nurse patients without proper PPE.
Nurses said there were no disposable protective gowns, they were forced to handle Covid-19 patients with only gloves, masks and plastic aprons.
A senior nurse with 23 years of experience, and who did not want to be named, told the Daily News that for the first time in her career she feared going to work, thinking about the pandemic risks.
“Going to work feels like jumping off a moving train. That is how
working without PPE feels like. How are we supposed to nurse patients without protection?” she asked.
Another Durban nurse complained about the lack of resources and shortage of staff.
“There’s nothing much to celebrate when nurses are still faced with such working conditions. The pandemic has left us even more traumatised and neglected. I’ve never been so traumatised in my whole life. The sad thing is that nurses are left with no choice,” she said.
The Health and other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) demanded better appreciation and recognition by the government for the profession.
Hospersa general secretary Noel Desfontaines said they demanded the introduction of a Covid-19 tax relief and special risk allowance for all categories of health workers, including nurses, to show appreciation.
“The virus has infected more than 4 million people, globally, while more 280000 of them have lost their lives.
“In South Africa, the infection rate is just above 10000 with close to 200 reported deaths,”he said.
The Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa said the fact that almost 50% of the people who were infected had since recovered through the quality of the care from nurses, was worth celebrating.
Provincial secretary Mandla Shabangu said some of the ongoing challenges they faced included the dwindling numbers of trained
nurses. He said nurses had risen above the challenge.
Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said nurses were appreciated for their work, especially now during the pandemic.
She said the department had decided on a strategy to engage with health-care workers through hospital visits by provincial managers.
“We might have a different theory of what the issues are, but we are looking at how we educate each other to stop the virus among health-care workers, because when we have a sick health-care worker, it means we have one less to fight the battle.”