Clinics within the Rustenburg Sub district will on 1 April 2012 receive nine community nurses to help attend to increased number of patients visiting health facilities in the area. The number of people who migrate to Rustenburg to work in the mines and others economic sectors have motivated the Health Department to staff clinics with more nurses. These nurses are among the 62 Community Nurses who were released by Mmabatho College of Nursing to do their mandatory community service in clinics across the province. This is in addition to 108 community service nurses that were released to do community service in January. A total of 73 community nurses will again be released from Excelsius College of Nursing in June.
The department will use the revitalisation grant to revitalise the two nursing colleges together with four nursing schools based in Taung hospital, Moses Kotane hospital, Witrand hospital and Thusong hospital. Revitalised nursing colleges will afford the department to increase annual intake of nursing students thereby help deal effectively with acute shortage of nurses.
MEC Dr. Magome Masike has again appealed to the public to make use of Community Health Centers and public clinics as the first point of entry into the health system. This comes in the mist of overflow of patients visiting hospitals with cold cases that could have been seen and treated at primary health level. The overflow has an effect on emergency cases.
Community health centers in the province have resident medical officers. Clinics have scheduled medical officers every week. There is also a referral system which moves patients from clinics to hospitals if required. Health facilities have an excellent and regular supply of all medication.
Enquiries:
Tebogo Lekgethwane
Cell: 082 929 9958
E-mail: Tlekgethwane@nwpg.gov.za
More nurses for North West clinics
Province
