Nurses union set to picket outside health department in Northern Cape

The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) is set to picket outside the Department of Health in the Northern Cape on Tuesday, as the only nursing college in the province is on the brink of closure.

While the demonstration will be taking place, the Health MEC Maruping Matthews Lekwene will be in a meeting with the union’s Northern Cape leadership regarding Hendrietta Stockdale Nursing College (HSNC).

According to the union’s, General-Secretary Lerato Mthunzi, the college faces closure because it has not been accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the South African Nursing Council (SANC).

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She said the staff and students at the nursing college requested for the presence of the union as a support structure.

Only nursing college in Northern Cape

“This is the only nursing college in the province and it is in danger of being closed down, due to the fact that it has not yet been accredited by the Council on Higher Education,” said Mthunzi.

She said the nursing regulatory and accreditation bodies stated they could not accredit the college because it lacks basic proper infrastructure, training resources and adequately qualified nurse educators. 

The students at the college are also studying under very poor conditions.

“Students are studying in temporary dilapidated structures. They do not have a well-resourced library, a working printer or access to Wi-Fi. They do not have proper classrooms, textbooks or stationery.”

She said amid the nursing education crisis in the province, the government has failed to fix the problem and build proper infrastructure.

“We will also be staging a peaceful picket outside the department of health to highlight these and other issues and hand over a memorandum of demands,” added Mthunzi. 

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