[afro-nets] Africa Losing Nurses to Britain (13)

[Dolly Nyasulu <h993227@dohho.kzntl.gov.za>]

Africa Losing Nurses to Britain (13)
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Dear Dr Sundby,

I agree 100% with what this nurse is saying, however, I believe
that we need not to be negative and perhaps pessimistic about
the situation but we need to try to work with the authorities
and try to come up with workable solutions to this crisis. Ad-
mittedly we are paid peanuts, but if we reflect on our situation
- say 10-20 years back before we tasted the luxury of the first
world - nursing in Africa was the most lucrative job and we were
the best paid and best respected professionals compared to e.g.
teachers and policemen. We only came to realise that we are un-
derpaid after the recruitment of African nurses by first world
started.

Having said that, I do not in any way suggest that we do not
need a hike in our salaries but what I am saying is that it is
not only salaries but also the working conditions, the environ-
ment in which we are working as well as the outcomes. What we
need to address are issues relating to the whole health care
system rather than looking at one part of the system. Even if I
was paid a million dollars I would not cope pushing the queues
as I find myself doing these days, I mean, e.g. between 08.00
and 13.00 having to palpate 150 women on my own and having to
deliver women without gloves, suction machine and warmth for the
baby. That would not give me job satisfaction because the qual-
ity of my productivity would be very poor.

The question is where do we start? I am speaking mainly from my
experiences as a midwife. In our country, our democratic govern-
ment introduced free health services for maternal health care
consumers. This resulted in increased numbers being seen in ma-
ternity facilities, at the same time there was restructuring of
the nursing education system with more and more nurses doing
comprehensive nurse training and university education. This re-
sulted in fewer production of qualified nurses as they have
taken 4 years to complete. Furthermore there are fewer colleges
who can provide this kind of training. So nurses in the field
are finding it difficult to cope with the large numbers - a mat-
ter of increasing demands and dwindling resources.

So I may be waffling a lot but I have some ideas which can be
explored further - for instance: we need to secure political
commitment for support; we review our nurse education system; we
need to involve our communities, we serve these communities.
When we leave our countries we leave our communities behind, is
it not appropriate to say to them, help us secure the comfort of
our nurses and retain them in our countries to serve you? The
communities have definitely a louder voice when it comes to de-
manding political influence. Let us make home better we have got
the ability to do that!!

Dolly Nyasulu
KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
mailto:h993227@dohho.kzntl.gov.za