No intake of new nursing students in Limpopo to impact health services: Denosa

Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) in Limpopo says nursing colleges in the province have not admitted new students for the past three years.

Denosa secretary Jacob Molepo says, “The no intake of new students at training colleges will impact health services in Limpopo…”

He says, “Health facilities in rural areas will be most affected if no new nurses are trained in the near future and the nursing population is ageing and needs to be replaced by new recruits…”

“Despite the shortage of nurses and the ageing nursing population in the province, there was no intake of new students by the Limpopo Nursing College receiving their accreditation from South African Nursing Council to Diploma in Nursing, which is a three-year qualification,” Molepo adds.

Denosa has been engaging with the Department of Health for the past three years to track progress. Unfortunately, the Department of Health is crying poverty, explains Molepo.

Limpopo Health Department spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana confirmed that there has not been an intake of students at nursing colleges for the past three years. Shikwambana says the department has been facing financial challenges in recent years.

“Well it’s true that we haven’t been admitting new students for nursing at our nursing colleges due to financial constraints because our financial status has not improved as such since the last time we spoke about this challenge,” says Shikwambana.

Denosa has vowed to take the matter further if the province does not start registering new students at colleges.