WE SALUTE SELFLESS NURSES

Sir,

After celebrating World Nurses Day recently, we have been reminded that we are eternally indebted and need to give substantial gratitude and appreciation to the nurses worldwide, who sacrificed their lives and families to help save lives during the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. We heartily salute the nurses who lost their lives on duty, during the fight against the pandemic. They are our heroes, who have now become ‘the time-tested memorials’ of selflessness and compassion. The posterity will embrace their heroism. It is the nurses that usher in new lives and provide healthcare from the cradle to the grave.

Safety

Government needs to ensure the safety of nurses. Last year, patients and medical staff had to run for cover when 10 amabenjamin gang members armed with all sorts of weapons, invaded the Mbabane Government Hospital and terrorised everyone in the casualty department. In another incident, it was also reported that over 40 gang members took a fight to the Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital, after a bar brawl, resulting in eight people being stabbed. Another sign of lax security. One wonders if they deliberately took the fight to the hospital hoping to get immediate treatment after stabbing each other.

Raped

Last month, it was also reported that the minister of health literally broke down in tears when talking about an incident where two men raped a healthcare worker at a nurses home. Our nurses should not be subjected to such atrocities. It is disturbing when nurses get the short hand of the stick. While they soldier on amid challenges, it is disheartening when they have to picket over shortage of medication. After government began the process of hiring healthcare workers recently, some nurses who were employed on contract basis during the COVID-19 pandemic felt the decision by government to employ them based on the date of their graduation should have been communicated, prior to them accepting the contracts.
They felt it was not fair that they, as healthcare workers, who risked their lives while others declined to be in the forefront during COVID-19 pandemic, would not get the permanent employment they were promised.

Chance

They felt they needed to be given a fair chance by allowing them to go through the interview process to prove themselves without being segregated by the year in which they graduated. What will be remembered in the future generations will not be the pandemic devastation, but the sacrifice and bravery of these healthcare workers. If the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, would rise from the grave, she would smile at the sacrifice of our healthcare workers, because her legacy is still shining even today. Keep it up all healthcare workers. You are the soul of the universe. God bless you.

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