Chairperson of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Nursing College Council;
Principals of Nursing Colleges; and Academic Staff;
Head of the Nursing Faculty of University of the Witwatersrand;
Nursing Service Managers from Affiliated hospitals and clinics;
Family Members of Diplomats;
Our distinguished guests, the Diplomats;
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honour and privilege to celebrate your achievement on this memorable day in the life of your Nursing Career. This auspicious occasion is a culmination of the hard work and resilience of the people we have gathered to celebrate with this afternoon. Government acknowledges that nurses are the foundation and back bone of our Health System.
We also acknowledge that you make up the majority of Health Workers in our Country; therefore you are the future of the transforming Health Care System in SA. We value you because your training has equipped you to serve the ill, the infirm and those who come to our facilities when they are at their most vulnerable state.
Our country and the rest of the world continue experiencing a shortage of health professionals, especially professional nurses. This has resulted in serious challenges for health care all over the world. The increasing burden of disease has compounded this challenge.
According to the World Health Organisation (2006), there is an increasing reliance on approximately six million nurses who form the backbone of health services worldwide. The Province of Gauteng has not been immune from this phenomenon.
Most of you are aware of the global shortage of over 4 million Health Workers. Africa as a continent has a shortage of over 1 million Health Workers.
This shortage impacts negatively on our efforts to strive towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. That is why we took a conscious policy decision to increase nurse production by 20% with effect from the beginning of January 2005.
This decision become a non-negotiable mandate on which strengthening of District Health Services, Primary Health Care, hospitals and priority health programmes would be measured on an annual basis. This policy decision had to be supported by appropriate budget allocations, hence in 2005, we invested R173 945 000 in Nursing education. This investment has increased exponentially to over R700 000 000 in 2013.
Program Director,
To some developing countries, the current allocation for training of nurses would be equal or more than their total health budget. Therefore we are obliged to produce nurses who provide quality health care to our people, and also improve their health status.
To this end, the key performance target was to achieve 100% increase in the production of nurses during the term of office which was supposed to end in April 2009.
The baseline in 2005 was an intake of 804 new nursing entrants in the diploma, degree and enrolled nursing programmes. Our country and the rest of the world continue experiencing a shortage of health professionals, especially professional nurses.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Nursing College has produced a total of 183 Primary Health Care Nurses over the past three years and the total produced in the province during this period was 428.
Since 2004 we have produced 12, 813 nurses in all categories (Specialist nurses, Professional Nurses, Enrolled Nurses and Auxiliary Nurses). We have a total of 57 Professional Nurses currently registered for the one year diploma in Midwifery and they should be available to work in the midwifery units by October as they are on study leave from their employing institutions.
To the graduates, I extend Government’s heartfelt appreciation for having chosen such a demanding and yet rewarding and fulfilling career. You have chosen to be trained to work as public sector nurses in a field which is very competitive.
Please also be cautioned that you are not to chase any patients away and more so pregnant women. I appeal to you to educate security guards and clerks in our health facilities that they have no business in pretending to be professionals and engaging in decision making such as turning pregnant women away which results in disastrous consequences.
As you graduate today, our country is faced with a changing and complex burden of disease. This is also exacerbated by high levels of poverty. In spite of the challenges that we face, our province leads the country in producing the largest number of Health Professionals. It is therefore very important to remind you as Diplomates, of the priorities that were outlined by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in January 2010.
These are:
- increasing the life expectancy at birth;
- combating HIV/AIDS;
- decreasing the burden of disease;
- improving the health system effectiveness, Primary Health Care and reducing costs in health care.
My message therefore is that as you enter the health care system and represent the aspirations of the President, the Minister of Health and the people of South Africa; your healing hands and your caring heart will contribute immensely to achieving the goals that have been set.
If you live up to the pronouncements in your pledge of service and think of how many lives you will give hope to on a daily basis – by just rendering basic care, a clean bed, stopping to just talk to your patients, your contribution will never be underestimated. You are also called upon to be able to refer patients for Social support. This will go a long way towards changing the way the public perceives us and restore the glorious image of the health care workers to that of a beacon of light and hope.
You are therefore expected to remain dedicated in spite of challenging working conditions. This will justify the investment government had made in your training. I have been reliably informed that it costs at least R140 000.00 per annum to train a professional nurse.
The people that you are expected to serve place their lives in your hands, you are therefore expected to reciprocate this faith by rendering competent nursing/midwifery care and most of all to do so with a caring attitude.
We are confident that you will walk in the footsteps of the majority of our health care workers who perform miracles at our health facilities. I also have no doubt in my mind that you will take up this challenge and be the foot soldiers in this noble course and make our country proud, you will be a part of the solution. I am looking forward to visit health facilities and come across all of you without exception, wearing your uniform with pride.
I take this opportunity to congratulate you, we are proud of you – let your efforts be a labour of love even though you would sometimes feel it is a hard slog. You have chosen a noble profession. You have responded to a calling which is demanding, and yet rewarding and fulfilling. I plead with you to remain in the public sector, and pride yourself in serving the majority.
I am therefore confident that you will be rewarded with experience and skills that will be of value for the rest of your working life. I therefore take this opportunity to assure you that I am available to work with you to ensure that the training that you have undergone responds to the needs of the people of Gauteng.
Before I take my seat I want to take this opportunity to remind the newly graduated nurses that their decision to enter this profession will be rewarded with experience which will be of value through –out their your working lives. I say this because Gauteng is unique in that it has four academic hospitals, and a number of specialised hospitals.
This therefore, presents you with a myriad of opportunities for advancing your careers and even on specialising.
In the same vein I plead with you to choose those disciplines which will assist us towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals and these include Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Theatre Nursing and Primary Health Care.
I have no doubt that you will walk on the footsteps giants such as Mama Albertina Sisulu and Mama Adelaide Tambo.
