Nurses were on Friday recognised globally for playing a leading role in the provision of primary health care.
About a thousand nurses gathered at Sun City near Rustenburg in an event organised by the North West health department to celebrate International Nurses Day.
This year the International Nurses Day is commemorated under the theme: Our Nurses. Our Future.
Nurses were lauded for being at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha, speaking at the event, committed to tackle challenges nurses encounter in the course of their work.
“We’re going to ensure that with all their challenges, the department works first with their unions and secondly with them as individuals. We must also call on them to take up options that will allow them to specialise because we’re now having a problem where specialists are declining in numbers.
“If the specialists dwindle, then we will have a serious problem,” said the MEC.
The health union Nehawu also saluted the millions of nurses and caregivers across the globe celebrating International Nurses Day, celebrated annually on the 12th May.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) , in its State of the world’s nursing 2020 report, identified key critical areas that governments across the world should prioritise in investing in nurses and these include education, creation of nursing jobs and nursing leadership.
WHO also emphasised the investment in these areas cannot be over-emphasised for the future of nurses and ultimately the future of society and for the provision of quality health care for the people.
