JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) is worried about the state of the country's public health sector.
This as it is plagued with various issues among those being the shortage of nurses and doctors and the state of infrastructure.
Denosa chairperson in Gauteng Simphiwe Gada taking into account such challenges said the biggest question the organisation has is whether or not the health system will be able to respond efficiently should the country face any pandemic.
Gada was speaking ahead of the organisation's ninth annual congress which is being held in Benoni, Ekurhuleni between 22 and 24 January.
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The discussion at the congress according to the organisation will look into the state of readiness of the province's health facilities for the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) the shortage of nurses in the province, and the non-filling of vacant posts.
Furthermore, another issue to be highlighted is the dwindling number of student intakes at nursing colleges and universities and the compromised safety and security of nurses in facilities.
Gada said the issue of nurse shortage is dire and they plan to present to the political leadership of the country studies that indicate that if there are no radical decisions taken in the next 15 to 20 years on the intentional hiring and production of nurses the health system in this country will collapse.