The Eastern Cape health department will not recognise nurses trained at illegal nursing schools because the schools do not train quality nurses, the department said on Thursday.
Departmental spokesperson Siyanda Manana said such institutions are not accredited by the South African Nursing Council and are thus illegal. Nurses trained at such schools will not be formally recognised as qualified nurses.
”We cannot absorb the students, neither will we recognise the training they have undergone if, at any stage they are taken in at our training institutions.
”We [the health department] cannot take legal action against the school as they are not rendering a service. However, we are engaging with the Nursing Council and the police so that appropriate action is taken against the school,” he said. ”We are conducting an investigation to get more information on this.”
Earlier on Thursday, Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) spokesperson Asanda Fongqo said the nursing profession is confronted with massive obstacles that include gross staff shortages.
”Such incidents [illegal nursing training centres] impact adversely in the human resource process with regards to the nursing profession. Moreover, it is also discouraging school leavers from taking nursing as their career of choice,” he said.
The organisation called for the arrest of people running such illegal schools.
Denosa also demanded that the matter of illegal nursing schools be investigated urgently, said Fongqo. — Sapa