- Nurses across the country celebrated International Nurses Day.
- This year's theme is "Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health".
- Denosa said it was concerned about health workers leaving the profession.
As the world marked International Nurses Day - amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic - nurses across South Africa were hailed as superheroes.
This year's theme was "Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health". But the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) warned its biggest concern was that health workers were leaving the profession because they were not being appreciated or taken care of.
Denosa called on the government to invest in nursing by coming up with a staff retention plan to avoid a tsunami of migration of skilled nurses to overseas employers.
Denosa's acting general secretary, Kwena Manamela, said funding for students, who wanted to train as nurses, had declined, which resulted in universities and colleges producing fewer and fewer nurses.
"Understaffing has created challenges of poor wellness and burnout among nurses in almost all healthcare facilities due to poor support, lack of safety in the workplace and underpay, which have become pushing factors for nurses to either leave the profession or to migrate to high-income countries," he said.
Manamela said migration had become the greatest threat to both nursing and healthcare services, especially in low-income countries.
He said:
Over the past weekend, a shooting at the New Somerset Hospital resulted in the death of three people. A patient disarmed a police officer, and then killed the officer and two other patients. A nurse, Diane Seale, and her team managed to calm the patient down.
Seale's actions epitomised why the nursing profession should be celebrated.
Another nurse at New Somerset Hospital, Jennifer Afrika, 58, said she had been in the medical field for over 30 years and wouldn't change her career for anything else. "I can't imagine doing anything else. It's my passion; it's what I've always wanted to do as a young woman. To help patients, nurse them back to health, and assist the doctors is nice," she said.
Afrika said she had many highlights during her nursing career, but what stood out the most was when high-risk pregnant mothers came to the hospital in search of medical care.
"The mothers come in, saying they think they lost the baby. I always calm them down and try and make them understand we will do everything we can to save the baby. And then they leave the hospital with massive smiles, while holding their infants tightly wrapped in blankets, which is always a proud moment in my maternity ward," said Afrika.
The bubbly nurse from Strandfontein said her annual leave tended to coincide with Nurses Day, so she often missed out on the celebrations.
"I don't know how I do it, I always miss the celebrations on Nurses Day at the hospital. Today, I know there will be nice celebrations again for the nurses, but I'm enjoying some nice family time with my loved ones in Riversdale. I'm going to hopefully get me a lekker carrot cake because it's my day," said an excited Afrika.
Afrika said the shooting last weekend at the hospital had left staff members "heartbroken".
"Many people phoned me to find out if we were all okay. Luckily, it was my off weekend, so I wasn't on duty, but my colleagues were all shaken, so today's celebrations are welcomed," she added.
Sister Brenda Vanniekerk, 78, said she had been a nurse for 55 years.
"I was at Groote Schuur Hospital all my life, then I retired at 60. But I became so restless, I didn't know what to do with myself. So, I joined a nursing agency, and now I'm back in the nursing field, but I deal only with the frail care people this time. I'm so happy to be back at work," she said.
Vanniekerk said she had wanted to be a nurse since she was six years old, adding that she was grateful for the lessons, daily experiences and highlights the profession had provided. "Working with the elderly, and training staff on how to care for the most vulnerable group in society, has been very rewarding. My biggest reward daily is to make them smile," she said.
Vanniekerk said that, to celebrate Nurses Day, she would be taking some gifts to other nurses to let them know that they were appreciated and loved. "Nurses Day should be celebrated every day, but I think, today, more emphasis is on it, which is nice. I know many of us nurses are enjoying the celebrations, and it's probably very joyful in most wards at hospitals," she said.
Sindiswa Tshanda, originally from the Eastern Cape, arrived in Cape Town in 2001 and started a nursing career in 2010. "I am the first nursing graduate in my family. The passion started when my sister was very sick in the hospital and I had to take care of her during that time of sickness, such as feeding her and giving her full washes," said Tshanda.
Tshanda said one of her greatest sacrifices was that she missed out on the development of stages her son, who lives in the Eastern Cape while she works in Cape Town.
"Throughout my studies, I was staying off-campus and had to travel to class and to the hospitals where I was placed. I used my placement fruitfully as I was very hands-on in the hospital where I was placed. The Covid-19 pandemic also played a big role in challenges as we had to adapt, as nurses, with the virus and I was also a Covid-19 survivor. For Belinda Langenhoven, becoming a nurse was a no-brainer because it runs in the family.
"Nursing runs in our family. My mother was a nurse and four of my family members are registered, professional nurses. My greatest challenge was and still is the shortage of nursing staff. My highlights are when I see a patient recovering from an illness - and the 'thank you nurse' makes my day," said Langenhoven.
Gift of the Givers held two symbolic events, one at Paarl Provincial Hospital, in the Western Cape, for 355 nurses, and the other at Madzikane Kazulu Memorial Hospital, in the Alfred Nzo District, Eastern Cape, to commemorate the day.
Each nurse at both events received a TFG blanket, Starbucks coffee and various other items to make them feel special.
"Many of these nurses were on deathbed themselves, survived and came back smiling to serve. This is resilience, dedication, compassion and humanity, " said Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman.
The organisation said it "salutes all nurses" - male and female - worldwide for their "incredible courage and commitment" to the patients of our troubled world.
Sooliman said:
Government Communication and Information System director-general Phumla Williams said: "This is an important day to celebrate, especially considering all the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought. We have seen how caregivers have been at the forefront of fighting the pandemic. We have to appreciate their dedication and service during one of the worst times, not just in our country, but globally."
'No point in celebrating'
But, in the Eastern Cape, nurses were not in a celebratory mood.
They said there was no point in celebrating Nurses Day when 8 500 of their colleagues, who were in the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, were now unemployed.
The group was employed in 2020 by the provincial health department at various hospitals to work as Covid-19 healthcare workers on a contract basis. But their contracts were terminated in December 2021 and March 2022 after a R1 billion Covid-19 intervention budget from the Solidarity Fund, which was paying them, seemingly finished.
This led to protest action in Bhisho by disgruntled contract workers, demanding reinstatement.
Overworked, permanent nurses also joined the fray, shutting down a clinic in Nelson Mandela Bay, after complaining that their workload had increased due to the now unemployed contract workers.
Workers at the Motherwell Health Centre have since returned to work after the department promised to fill vacancies.
However, Covid-19 contract workers remain at home, with the department citing budgetary constraints as the main reason for not rehiring them.
Nonyameko Mvumvu, a clinical nurse practitioner at the Bhisho Hospital, said nurses were not happy with the state of affairs.
Mvumvu said:
Mvumvu said nurses were not coping, and some were suffering from depression.
"Some are drowning in debt. Yes, we do have wellness programmes, but that is not enough," Mvumvu added.
"As nurses, we have nothing to celebrate, we just need to stick to the pledge."
One of the 8 500 laid-off workers, who asked not to be named, said today felt like any other day. "It's not a special day for me. It's like any other day - me wondering where I am going to get my next meal. Should nurses celebrate International Nurses Day with all the challenges they face? My answer is no," she said.
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