Teenage pregnancy file image.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in KwaZulu-Natal has called on the Department of Health to extend an invitation to the Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture in its fight against the current high rate of teenage pregnancy.
The Mercury reported that KZN has the highest number of teenage pregnancies in the country, with almost 120 000 girls aged 15 to 19 having given birth in just 12 months. In a statement, Denosa said involving the Arts department will keep the youth busy with constructive activities like drama, ingoma, drawing, and different sports codes on weekends, ‘instead of other destructive ways that often lead to unprotected sex’.
“The number of teenage pregnancies keeps on rising each year while there are different family plans in place. This also adds strain to nurses, as there hasn't been any training for specialised nurses in the last two to three years due to the new nursing curriculum,” read the statement.
The provincial chairperson of the union, Sibonelo Cele said, “While acknowledging that over 1.56 million people are on treatment in the province, we concur with the MEC to make taking ART treatment fashionable amongst people of KZN to avoid the spread and transmission of the disease.”
Cele said while they appreciate the R3 billion increase in the budget this year, as MEC Nomagugu Simelane announced last week, the department needs to invest in training nurses through the bursary funding that was advertised at the beginning of 2024.
Cele said there was a shortage of specialised nurses in the province, which affects the care of patients in need of specialist care, like ICU, theatre, maternity, emergency, mental, and many others.
In strengthening community-based primary healthcare, Denosa called on Simelane to employ former R171 students, who were trained by the department but are currently unemployed. These nurses will assist in these community-based projects like isibhedlela kubantu, isibaya samadoda, and others.
Moreover, the trade union urged the Department of Health to invest more in mental health by building or renovating institutions to be more mental health friendly. “Our members and other patients are being attacked by mental health care users due to poor infrastructure,” he said.
Cele said the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is in a deep crisis as there is one ambulance per district, which is delaying the transportation of patients to nearby facilities. Employment of roadside assistance is just another way of misusing funds instead of buying more ambulances and hiring more EMS personnel.
Independent on Saturday