Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) has confirmed that the ministry has halted the move and asked for the transfer letters to be returned to matrons.Information reaching Mmegi is that an estimated 3,000 nurses across the country received transfer letters from their respective matrons recently. A few days later, the matrons were ordered by the ministry to withdraw the letters without explanation for the sudden about-face. Speaking to Mmegi yesterday, BONU president Fondondo Phillip said upon hearing of the mass transfer of nurses, the union asked for an audience with the Ministry of Health because it had not been consulted either.
Phillip says at the meeting, they learnt that the ministry had authorised the mass transfers from hospitals and clinics across the country through its human resource department. At that stage, some nurses had already made arrangements to move. Asked about the reasons behind the transfers and the sudden about-face soon after, the ministry allegedly said it had been under pressure from nurses who had long asked for transfers because they had been stationed in the same place for too long. According to BONU, the ministry said under a new transfer policy adopted in 2011, nurses can be transferred if they had stayed at a station for a minimum of five years.
