16 May 2024

In recognition of nurses and midwives’ centrality to Botswana’s efforts to achieve universal health coverage, government will continue to advance and protect their interests as well as address challenges that impede their work.

Officiating at this year’s International Nurses Day commemoration in Tsabong on May 16, Vice President Slumber Tsogwane said government was alive to various challenges the nursing profession faced such as long hours of work and high nurse/patient ratio.

“Government of Botswana is aware of the challenges faced by nurses and these include the following; long hours of work, high nurse/patient ration, stagnation in the same (salary) scales, limited positions in policy making positions,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane said while the challenges often left nurses and midwives feeling unappreciated, they should remain hopeful as government was intent on helping bring about lasting solutions.

He said government had since made great progress in advancing and developing the nursing profession citing among the interventions made, the appointment of the first-ever director of nursing and midwifery services, sending hundreds of nurses for further studies, and the appointment of nursing leaders across all the DHMTs into higher positions and facilitating nurses to equally attend international conferences.

These, he said, demonstrated government’s commitment in supporting nurses through ensuring that they were able to continue providing quality care to the public.

Vice President Tsogwane said being the backbone and heartbeat of the healthcare system, nursing and midwifery profession had for decades anchored on its shoulders the very soul of the healthcare sector, guaranteeing its survival in many ways.

“Nurses have always been the backbone of the Ministry of Health in discharging services. They diligently served the nation back in time when the country did not have other healthcare professionals like doctors, and specialists such as pharmacists, physiotherapists and others,” he said.

Paying homage to members of the profession, he encouraged them to discharge their duties with a great sense of pride, basking in the knowledge that the nation would forever remain indebted to the selfless and devoted service that nurses and midwives continue to render to the nation.

Minister of Health Dr Edwin Dikoloti said government was aware that nurses were grappling with several challenges among them delayed progression, shortage of accommodation and of late issues of their safety in health facilities.

Assuring them of government’s commitment to see them resolved, the minister also appealed to the nation to help in safeguarding nurses. Similarly describing them as the backbone of the healthcare system, president of the Botswana Nurses Union (BONU) president Mr Peter Baleseng said nurses and midwives were unsung heroes who had repeatedly demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the face of difficult circumstances.

Mr Baleseng said it was disheartening though that despite the sacrifices that nurses and midwives continued to make on a day-to-day basis in their line of duty, the community that they served tended to display some hostility towards them.

“The nation is well because of the good care that people receive at the hands of these nurses, but the environment seems hostile. We are taking care of a community that is very hostile, a community that never says ‘Thank you’” he said.

Speaking to the theme of the event, Our Nurses, Our Future-The Economic Power of Care, the BONU president said it encapsulated the pivotal role that nurses played not just in health delivery but in shaping a sustainable future for all.

He said the economic contribution of nurses extended beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics, saying it was felt in the vitality of communities as well as in the strength of the nation.

“The care provided by nurses is an investment in the wellbeing of our people and by extension our country’s prosperity. As we look to the future we must recognise that investing in nursing is investing in the economic power of care,” he said, noting that it was a commitment to nurturing the potential of every nurse to lead, innovate and inspire. Ends