nurses into the service
9 October 2007
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health is elated indeed by the performance
of the class 2007 of the nurses that that have been trained in different
categories by the newly formed KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing comprising of
11 Campuses and 14 Sub-campuses.
The last batch of nurses (535) to graduate from this campus are receiving
their certificates at a graduation held at the Durban City Hall making the
total number of nurses to graduate from this campus to be 1 769 to date. These
nurses will be deployed in the rural hospitals of the province where their
services are needed the most. The department would like to thank the hard work
and dedication of both students and lecturers. From those who are graduating
today, 87 distinctions were received.
The first graduation ceremony of the four-year programme and Post Graduate
Programme took place on 20 September when we honoured 392 students in the
four-year programme as well as 201 in the Post Registration Programme. In both
these categories we obtained a total number of 245 distinctions. On 28
September a further 641 Nurses graduated from the Northern Campuses where we
also obtained a total number of 72 distinctions.
Congratulating the graduates during the graduation, the MEC for Health, Ms
Neliswa Nkonyeni said "I must say that at the rate we are producing these
nurses, we are bound to make an impact on the ever increasing burden of both
the communicable and non-communicable diseases that continue to ravage this
beautiful province. For us nurses are the backbone of our service delivery
mandate since out of 53 000 employees that the department has, more than 23 000
are nurses.
With the vast improvements in the nurses' salaries as announced by Minister
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang last month, we hope the majority of our school leavers
will start considering nursing as a career of choice. On behalf of the
Department and the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal I wish to extend our deep felt
loss as we mourn the loss of 10 nursing students who passed on before
completing their chosen and noble careers. Our hearts remain with their
families."
Enquiries:
Mr Leon Mbangwa
Cell: 083 459 8695
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083447 2869
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
9 October 2007
