The MEC of Health in province, Mr Mxolisi Sokatsha is proud to announce the intake of 60 new student nurses at the Henrietta Stockdale Nursing College in Kimberley, Northern Cape from 01 July 2010. The 60 students are made up of 16 males and 44 females. The representivity per district are: Frances Baard(16), Siyanda(14), Pixley-Ka-Seme(13), John Taolo Gaetsewe(10) and Namaqualand(7). The four year course studied will lead up to the registration as a nurse in general, psychiatric, community and midwifery.
Government has made health care a priority for the next five years and it is pleasing for us to witness the injection of a group of future nursing professionals into our health care system with the aim of increasing the number of qualified health care professionals in our province. This in itself will also translate into improved quality of health care as well as more accessibility of health care, especially in the rural areas of the Northern Cape Province.
The Henrietta Stockdale Nursing College in the Northern Cape province is affiliated to the University of Free State for this program whereby all examinations of all the semesters are moderated at UFS, certificates are endorsed by UFS and governing structures have representatives from UFS. Learners are registered with the South African Nursing Council within the first month of commencement of training – Act 2005 (Act 33 of 2005).
The Henrietta Stockdale Nursing College is an English medium training institution accredited as such but lecturers meet students half way by also using Afrikaans.
Text books are in English because Afrikaans textbooks are very rare. Learners are on a bursary system with the aim of employing the students in their resp[ective districts after completion of their studies. Accommodation is provided at Hoffee Park and classes are conducted at Phatsimang campus-Kimberley.
Clinical training and placements are done at Kimberly Hospital Complex, Clinics and other District Hospitals across the province accredited by the South African Nursing Council for student training. The Teacher – Learner ratio is supposed to be 1:30 in the classroom and 1:15 in the clinical areas. All lecturers fulfill the requirement of possessing a degree in Nursing Education. The major challenge facing the nursing college is own infrastructure for growth to increase the student numbers as well better marketing.
Cuban Medicine Programme
The purpose of the programme is to ensure that the Department of Health addresses the shortages of doctors within the province and to award matriculants who don’t meet entrance requirements into medical schools in South African University an opportunity to pursue their medical studies in Cuba.
It is almost a decade that medical training of South African students in Cuba has been going on. This programme is a culmination of a series of bilateral discussions between the South African and Cuban Governments where a need to train medical doctors was identified as a priority particularly among the previously disadvantaged and underprivileged backgrounds.
The Northern Cape Department of Health has been involved in the programme since 2001, with two (2) students being sent to study medicine in Cuba. The number of students being sent by the Province to study medicine in Cuba has since improved with years to come with 5 students in 2002, 10 in 2003, 15 students in 2005 and 10 in 2008.
Currently, the Department has 37 medicine students in the Cuban programme, of which 2 of the students have just graduated to practice as Medical doctors on 7 July 2010.
The Department will once again be awarding 10 students from within the 5 provincial Districts of the province, an opportunity to study their Medicine studies in Cuba for 2010. The 10 students have already been selected, after a rigorous process screening and selection that involved medical test (HIV, pregnancy and Hepatitis) and criminal record clearance.
Total Number of Graduates to date: 4
Total Number of students in their final year: 10
The district breakdown of the 10 selected candidates is as follow:
Frances Baard: 2 females
John Taole Gaetsewe: 2 females and 1 male
Namakwa: 1 male
Pixley ka Seme: 3 males
Siyanda: 1 male
As government we believe that the training, particularly of our young people, is critical if we are to achieve our goal of a better life for all and realising the Northern Cape Department of Health’s vision of “Health service excellence for all”. It is in this context that government is making a deliberate effort to intensify education and training programmes.
Enquiries:
Andrid F. Scholtz
Tel : 053 830 2000
Cell: 082 447 9696
Fax: 053 833 1925
E-mail : ascholtz@ncpg.gov.za
