By: Natasha Archary
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in the Eastern Cape confirmed that a male nurse took his life due to unemployment.
This after the Department of Health failed to renew his Covid-19 contract forcing the nurse into unemployment.
DENOSA said that this speaks volumes about the stress that many unemployed people go through but as unemployed nurses whose services are needed in facilities it is disheartening.
“The news circulating on social media of a male nurse from Tsolo, under Mhlontlo Local Municipality is true. He was one of the contracted nurses, whose contracts were never renewed. The nurse was part of a joint march by hundreds of unemployed nurses and community service nurses in March.”
DENOSA in a statement about the male nurse who took his life
According to reports, the nurse shared with his friends and family that he could not cope with being unemployed.
DENOSA said the Department of Health should shoulder the blame for his death because the gross shortage of nurses in the province makes it difficult to understand why there are nurses who remain unemployed.
“The Eastern Cape remains with unacceptably high unemployment rate, and the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation, which left many homes below the breadline. Many unemployed people currently have lost breadwinners at homes, living many households with no income whatsoever. The high levels of stress on many unemployed graduates and professionals in the province is what has led to incidents like this, where graduates and professionals are made by the governing system to feel useless and helpless with no show of commitment to salvage the situation.”
DENOSA has engaged the department on numerous occasions over this urgent matter, and task teams have been put in place but with no really tangible outcomes to date.
Some nurses have even gone to as far as the National Department of Health offices in Pretoria.
The little progress in as far as employing healthcare workers so far has been the release of 2900 posts, which is a drop in the ocean considering that almost 9000 healthcare workers were flushed from the province’s healthcare system recently.
Nurses are regarded as essential service workers, and yet the Department is allowed by the Treasury to shed essential jobs which are key to the service of humanity.
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