HEALTH MINISTER MUST GO – NURSES

stanley@times.co.sz

MBABANE – Health Minister Sibongile Simelane, whose ministry is undergoing a probe prompted by drug shortages and service delivery challenges, is wanted out.
Nurses say they have completely lost faith in her.

Bheki Mamba, the President of the nurses association that now calls itself the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), said nurses now want a meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini to discuss the problems engulfing the health ministry. “We are coordinating a meeting as we want to meet the prime minister and request the removal of the minister as she is hardly in the office,” Mamba said.

Mamba alleged that since the dusk was creeping into the term of the minister, she seemed to be prioritising on external trips over local work needed to keep the ministry intact.
He noted that the minister was in India for a long period and later travelled to Geneva where she also stayed for a lengthy period.

Furthermore, the SWADNU president noted that hospitals were still without medication despite government having settled its debt with suppliers. He said for certain drugs to be administered, there had to be other essentials that made it easier to assist patients. “The ministry is on the verge of collapse. We requested an Indaba and it has not yet taken place; yet it was going to address many issues that affect us,” he said.
Mamba noted that despite having petitioned the PM last year, most of the issues they raised had not yet been talked to.

He said while the pm instituted a task team to establish the cause of the drug shortages, there were many issues that were putting the ministry in distress.
Half way into last month, nurses delivered a petition to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service Evart Madlopha.  Before delivering the petition, Sibusiso Lushaba who is the Secretary General, highlighted among other things that the country could not afford to have a minister who was always out of the country, as clearly she did not have enough time to attend to the issues affecting the ministry. 
The unionist further relayed his organisation’s resolution that they could not allow a minister that undermined the nursing profession to be at the helm of things. Lushaba said the promotions that nurses got, they deserved and it was not anyone’s favour.

The secretary general noted that when it was reported to the minister that there were no drugs in health institutions, she told them to hush as it was none of their business.

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