Poor planning is reason nurses roam the streets

Mmegi Editor | Tuesday August 22, 2017 11:42

But the situation in our health facilities is troubling. The reports that there are many qualified nurses roaming the streets while our health facilities around the country suffer from understaffing is baffling to say the least.

Many Batswana still travel long distances to acquire services from government health facilities whilst others wait for too long before they can meet specialists.  A typical example is Extension II clinic, a stone throw from Mmegi Offices, where patients can wait hours to be assisted by nurses and other medical staff. The Minister of Health and Wellness (MoHW), Dorcus Makgato admitted last week that there are vacancies in her ministry, but nursing graduates are roaming the streets.

This admission by the minister comes a few weeks after stunning announcement by Princess Marina Hospital (PMH)not to admit pregnant mothers who may find themselves in labour pains at the gates of the hospital. The ministry argues that the mothers in labour should produce proof that they had been referred to the hospital by other clinics in order to be admitted in the hospital’s maternity ward. Otherwise the midwives would stiffly shoo away the new life to earth. The hospital’s main reason is that it cannot cope with the high volume of patients.

Marina is not unique as staff shortage is perennial across the country’s health facilities and it is proving to be a matter of life and death. But, as already pointed out, meanwhile many qualified nurses are roaming the streets unemployed. Why so? Could it be because many government offices are occupied by those with no vision or ability? 

It is not just the health sector both proving to be struggilng to deliver services it has been mandated to deliver and not employing the out-of-work nurses who number in their hundreds. During the recent Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee meetings, accounting officers from several ministries admitted to the fact that there are vacancies in their ministries, some of which have not been filled for more than six months. This problem tapers down to district councils, Land Boards, revenue collection and other departments, which are crucial as far as service delivery in rural areas is concerned. The shortage of staff impacts negatively on allocation of plots, payment for services and even distribution of drugs that are mostly needed by patients.

We implore the MoHW to ensure that nursing vacancies are filled as a matter of urgency to reduce the queues at health facilities across the country.

Today’s thought

“The martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain. Or rather not in vain; for they make the selfish more selfish, the lazy more lazy, the narrow narrower.” 

– Unknown