AIDS-Hit South Africa to Increase Nurse Training

A shortage of nurses and other skilled medical personnel is the major obstacle to getting antiretrovirals to about 5 million HIV-positive South Africans who need them, according to health department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi. On Tuesday, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told a meeting of retired nurses that she and her provincial counterparts on the National Health Council have agreed on measures to train more nurses and to try and convince those who have moved abroad to return home.

In addition to reviving the training of "enrolled" nurses -- who are a grade below professional nurses and do non-clinical work -- "We are also going to reopen some of the nursing colleges that were closed down in the past to improve our training output," Tshabalala-Msimang said.

A nursing bill brought before Parliament last week provides for one-year community service placement for nurses; this would allow the health department to deploy trained nurses to areas having difficulty filling posts through standard recruitment.

This weekend in London, Tshabalala-Msimang will meet with South African nurses lured to Britain by higher pay but now interested in coming home. She also said she wants to open the way for nurses in South Africa's large private-hospital sector to return to public hospitals.

Back to other news for August 31, 2005