Pretoria - They gave up their jobs, used up pension monies and borrowed from children’s educational funds in the hope of better employment after undertaking two years of training, and earning enough money to repay depleted purses.
Some were given money by their parents or their spouses, but six months after their professional body informed them that they had passed, the nurses have still not been granted permission to work.
“There is no clear word of our registration from the South African Nursing Council (SANC). There are no straight answers to our queries on registration,” Jessie Kgoania said.
She and 12 others are part of a group who are unable to start working at the level they are qualified for, after pursuing and passing the bridging course to take them from the position of enrolled nurse to professional nurse.
Kgoania and three others spoke to the Pretoria News of the frustration brought about by the delay in being licensed to take on the greater tasks of the job, and being forced to work for agents for a “measly amount” per shift.
And they report to fellow students of Thuto Bophelo Nursing Academy with whom they graduated in September last year. “It is humiliating at times, especially when you have to step in and provide the knowledge required at that level,” Delisiwe Kunene added.
They are among a group of 21 nursing students who enrolled for the bridging course to upgrade their skills in 2012. They sat for an exam last May and received results that they had passed from SANC in August. The college held a graduation ceremony for all graduates in September, with the council promising them certificates of registration in October. “We obviously anticipated getting our new positions by the end of the year, which would have started us off properly in the new year,” Kunene said.
The single mother explained that she had been putting money aside for her child, who matriculated last year. She used that money to fund her studies, thinking she’d be able to use the difference in salary to pay for his tertiary education.
“I have had to beg and borrow to get him going. This is a great inconvenience,” she added.
Merriam Manota came from KwaZulu-Natal for the course with money provided by her husband. “He is beginning to wonder if the college was registered, or if I even attended school.”
Monyela Mokgadi said her husband and children were beginning to question the authenticity of the college and the qualifications: “I resigned from my job and used up my pension money. They now expect me to bring in an income,” she said.
Relying on call-outs created by the absence of nurses in city hospitals was the biggest struggle, the women said, as they had no proper income. “But it also means we work at the level we sacrificed so much for and studied hard to escape,” Mokgadi said.
According to SANC spokeswoman Party-Day Moloi, the process of assessment and providing licences to work at that level took between six and eight weeks, and for this group, it only started mid-January. “The notice of completion of training reports were submitted on January 12 and are still being assessed by the professional advisers,” she said.
Meanwhile, the newly qualified sisters turned down the offers of employment organised during the course of their training, because they had no documentation to prove qualification. “Positions are currently open, patients need our skills, but we are not being recognised for our ability to take them on,” Manota said. They said they would wait another week.
Pretoria News