Durban - Nompumelelo Ngidi, a nurse at King Dinuzulu Hospital in Durban, is one of over 360000 registered nurses at the forefront of the health system fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ngidi works in the surgical ward and daily exposes herself and her family to possible infectious diseases, yet she soldiers on.
Today is World Health Day, a global health awareness day celebrated annually on April 7.
This year she and other health workers will be celebrated around the world.
Under this year’s theme, “Giving people access to health care without prospect of financial hardship”, the work of nurses and midwives is especially celebrated and the world's leaders are reminded of the critical role they play in keeping populations healthy. This World Health Day highlights the status of nursing around the globe.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners are expected to make a series of recommendations to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce,
which is good news for nurses like Ngidi, 31, who is also a qualified midwife. She was permanently employed by the Health Department in February after not being able to find a nursing job for many years. She continued to study, however, and is now a sister and midwife.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, and in only her first year of permanent employment, she realised that nursing was not a bed of roses.
She calls this period a “testing time for health workers and their families”.
“I learnt about a number of viruses and outbreaks while in nursing college, and had been exposed to many that were pandemics in the past during my training, but these were long-term killers and today they are curable. Like many pandemics, coronavirus has brought fear to the world. As nurses, this is where our dedication should come through. We have to serve!”
In years of studying and through an enormous amount of on-the-job training while working at state hospitals, she has learnt to overcome fear, she said.
“Nursing doesn't only involve treating patients in a hospital ward or at a clinic, but involves educating patients as well. I enjoy that. My passion dates back from when I was a little girl and it lives on. It's the same passion that gets me up in the morning to make a difference in people’s lives. But death is always hurtful, even to us health workers,” she said.
According to WHO expectations on World Health Day 2020, nurses and other health workers are at the forefront of the Covid-19 response, and are expected to provide "high-quality, respectful treatment and care" during this time.
Ngidi said nurses faced challenges, including lack of protection due to a lack of resources, and she urged the government to do more to take care of its health workers by ensuring they had the resources to do their jobs and be protected from infectious diseases.
“The government is failing us when it comes to protection and resources. There's a shortage of protective gear.
"This exposes us and our families to deadly viruses, but still nurses wake up to serve their country. This is a sacrifice that deserves recognition. I'm happy that the world takes time to celebrate us for what we do,” she said.
Mandla Shabangu, provincial secretary of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, called for improved working conditions for health workers and for funds to be made available for those exposed to the coronavirus.