Nursing crisis raises more concerns over NHI plan

With public hearings on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill set to begin next month in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape in November, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has questioned the department of health over the stalled process of accrediting new and current nursing training institutions countrywide.

According to the official opposition party, the current basic and post-basic nursing legacy programmes being provided by accredited institutions would end on December 31, rendering these institutions unable to continue training next year.

“The lethargic accreditation process poses a clear and present danger on nurse throughput and the sustainability of our primary healthcare system as we know it,” said DA MP Madeleine Hicklin.

“If nothing is done to speed up the accreditation process, nursing institutions will be unable to provide critical programmes in peri-operative, intensive care unit, trauma, midwifery, neonatal intensive and paediatric care.”

She said it was puzzling how the government intended to achieve its NHI target of a 1:40 staff: patient ratio when it had clearly shown it was not willing or committed to finding an urgent solution to the nursing crisis.

“The reality is that the current staff:patient ratio of 1:1,000 will only get worse if the nonaccreditation of centres of higher education for nursing in 2020 is not addressed,” said Hicklin.

Should Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize continue burying his head in the sand on this issue, projections were that there will be a nursing deficit of 400,000 by 2025, when NHI was expected to be fully implemented, she said.

According to Mkhize, the NHI Bill had been subjected to scrutiny by various constitutional experts and the state law advisor had issued certification to confirm its constitutionality.

“As minister, I am committed to the improvement of the health service by elimination of staff shortage, ensuring uninterrupted supply of medication, reduction of long patient queues in clinics and hospitals, improving quality of services, improving management and leadership of institutions, as well as upgrading decaying infrastructure and introducing appropriate technology,” said Mkhize.

The public hearings start in Mpumalanga from October 25-28 and move to the Northern Cape from November 1-4.

Hicklin said she would be writing to Mkhize, requesting that he issues a detailed public statement explaining how his department would expedite the stalled process of accrediting new and current training nursing institutions countrywide.

“As the December 31 deadline draws near, the DA will use every avenue available to us to ensure that the ANC does not collapse our primary healthcare system through its indifferent approach to nurse training.

“We will fight to defend the rights of every South African to quality healthcare,” she said.

Chairperson of the health portfolio committee Sibongiseni Dhlomo said an official communication was sent to all political parties represented in the National Assembly, informing them of countrywide public hearings on the NHI Bill, which would begin in October.

The national department of health had not provided a response to questions sent by The Citizen by the time of going to press.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.