Some 525 nursing assistants, who have just completed training will start working with immediate effect, said the Eastern Cape Health Department on Thursday.
Spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the nurses were trained on courses ranging from one to two years at the department operated college, Lilitha.
He said the new nurses would help ease the workload of the more than 9 000 nurses already working for the department.
The new nurses would be deployed in the province’s rural areas in a bid to reduce the severe shortage of nursing staff.
Kupelo said about R260 million had been set aside for tuition, allowance and administration of Lilitha College, which has campuses across the province.
Issued by: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
11 June 2009
Source: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecdoh.gov.za)
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