HEALTH CRISIS: NURSES TO MARCH, PETITION PM, MINISTER

MANZINI - Nurses have resolved to march and petition the Prime Minister, Russell Dlamini, and Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula over the continuing health crisis.

The nurses, who are organised under the banner of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), made this resolution during their national general council meeting, which was held at Shosholoza Conference Room in Manzini, last week. The petition delivery march will be held next week.

According to SWADNU Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane, the meeting reflected that the issue of shortage of drugs dates back to 2016 and since then, emaSwati have been dying at their hands. He said at their workstations, they no longer treat people, but offer words of comfort to the public who need medical attention.

This, he said, is because they do not have working tools and drugs. He said at times they see government issuing statements, which suggest that medical drugs have been delivered. He said those media statements are nothing but political statements. “This is because those drugs do not last even three weeks,” he said.

In that regard, he said the national general council decided that they should petition the prime minister and minister of Health next week. He said there is a proposal that they should engage the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) to lead the petition delivery, so that even the other concerned unions can join them.

However, he said they found out that there are some unions which had already written to the federation and asked it to convene a general council meeting to discuss same. He said they will come up with the exact date for the petition delivery march after the federation’s general council meeting, because by then, they will know if they will deliver these petitions alone as nurses or they will be with other sister unions under the banner of TUCOSWA.

Another issue, which will be in the petition, is the anomalies which reportedly took place at Central Medical Stores (CMS) as it seems like there had been corruption from procurement of medical drugs, storage and distribution. He said they want government to finalise the matter and see those who were involved behind bars before it implement the restructuring exercise.

“We will also demand working tools and that government should address the shortage of nurses in health facilities,” Masangane said. Again, he said the national general council also ordered branch leaders to facilitate pickets at health facilities in their branches. This, he said will be a build-up to the petition delivery march. 

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