NURSES GIVEN RUN-AROUND

Chaotic system to get annual certificate

NURSES face endless delays being sent their practising certificates after paying annual fees and must travel across the country to get it and keep their jobs.

They say the way they are treated by the South African Nursing Council shows that the government does not respect them.

In 2017‚ the annual professional payment system is not yet online and the 220 000 nurses and 73 000 nursing assistants must pay via FNB and fax proof of payment to the office. Then, their certificate is posted to them but many say it never arrives.

Nurses who do not receive their licence must travel to the only nursing council office in the country to get it.

Nomsa Hawker‚ who works in Saudi Arabia‚ travelled to Pretoria to pay in person last week.

“It is expensive but to save your job‚ you need to do it.

“It is a pathetic situation. The government does not appreciate nurses [even though] we are the pillars of the health system.”

Using the number of nurses recorded on the council website and the annual fees‚ Sowetan’s sister newspaper The Times established the council rakes in at least R120-million in fees a year.

Licence fees for 2016 range from R230 to R550 for various categories.

A visit to the council offices found hundreds of nurses queuing for their documents in hot offices with a broken airconditioner.

A woman collapsed while waiting on Thursday and was taken away by ambulance. One nurse asked: “Where does the nursing council money go?”

Philile Khoza took the day off work to fetch her sister’s licence. Khoza’s sister had travelled to the offices in December from KwaZuluNatal only to find them closed for the holidays. This was despite the fact that payment for the year closed on December 31 and many nurses wait for their annual bonus to pay the fee.

Khoza’s sister has to pay a fine of R1 760 for missing payment and has been threatened with losing her state hospital job. Nurses said they found the fine exorbitant and didn’t expect to pay it as payment usually closed in March‚ but last year it closed in December.

One woman travelled from Mahikeng in North West to get her licence because she had been told she would lose her job this week without it.

She had paid in October‚ but never received her certificate.

Council chairwoman Busisiwe Bhengu said employees could check if nurses were registered using the electronic register‚ but many nurses said their state employers required them to have the hard document. –