Refugee nurses kept back despite massive shortage

SOUTH Africa is short of at least 38000 nurses, yet some refugee nurses from Africa have waited up to 12 years to be registered.

This is according to Wits professor Aurelia Segatti, author of a report titled "A Disposable Workforce: On foreign health workers in South Africa".

Speaking of qualified nurses who take years before they are able to write SA Nursing Council accreditation exams, she said: "We need to address the major skills waste urgently. People are working as domestic workers or hairdressers."

She was concerned not just for refugee nurses. "The public sector needs these kinds of skills acutely."

She said the country produced between 3000 and 4000 nurses a year, with a high attrition rate. Yet 40% worked in the private sector, serving about 16% of the South African population, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

Segatti said the Department of Health's human resource strategy acknowledged shortages of health care staff and suggested that foreign staff help fill the gaps. But this policy was not being applied to nurses and doctors from African countries.

Wits School of Family Medicine researcher Stephen Pentz said professionals from Congo and Nigeria were able to work in under-resourced settings and might also have a wide variety of medical skills.

The report suggests that the SA Nursing Council does not want foreign nurses, although this is not its official policy.

The council did not respond to requests for comment. - Katharine Child