The Bokone Bophirima MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike has this past week completed a visit to Nursing Colleges in the Province and declared the 2016 academic year to be in full swing and progressing well. The MEC addressed the nursing students, their lecturers and the management of the two nursing colleges in Klerksdorp and in Mahikeng.
The two former Excelsius Nursing College and Mmabatho Nursing College have now merged to be known as North West Nursing Colleges which means they are now under one management, have same budget and programme.
“I am pleased with the spirit of our leaners, lecturers and the management that I have seen in our nursing college campuses. There is a clear commitment from all stakeholders who are making sure that we produce the best nurses in this Province. I encouraged them to stay committed to the course as we build a caring, community centred and a preventative health care system. We can only achieve that and provide quality health care services if we produce the best nurses”, said MEC Masike
Whilst he admitted there is still a lot to be done, Dr Masike also congratulated the Nursing College Board for assisting in turning around the image of the two institutions.
“Renovations, upgrading of the physical structure, accommodation and maintenance are continuous in the two campuses. It is therefore important for nursing students to concentrated on their studies because we are doing our part by making their campuses conducive to teaching and learning”, said MEC Masike
The last provincial health consultative forum resolved that colleges must increase their annual enrollments, and this is informed by among other thing, improvement of the infrastructure at the colleges.
At present the two nursing colleges in the province, Mmabatho College of Nursing and Excelsior Nursing College which have campuses in all districts currently take an average of 150 students per each institution who are then distributed to all campuses in the province. While the short term objective is to increase the intake to 500 the department has a long term plan of increasing the number of intakes to 1000 in the coming years. This plan is over and above the number of students who are funded by the Department at the North West University.
The colleges admit students during mid year and interested students are urged to apply at the beginning of the year as the application close in mid year for selection and admissions. This year applications closed in June and process to admit students for next year is unfolding.
