ONGWEDIVA – The Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, Petrina Haingura, has exhorted nurses to unite and promote the welfare of their patients.
Speaking at the 15th senior nurse managers’ annual forum she emphasized the imperativeness of being united, adding that it is the backbone to success and improvement in the country’s health sector.
“We as nurses should be united to promote and enhance the professional standing of nurses and command respect among our clients and the public,” stressed the deputy minister of health.
She reminded nurses that despite their technical and administrative duties, they have a golden opportunity to empathise with patients.
“Few people get a chance to make a difference in the world, but you can make a difference everyday by setting that leading example,” related Haingura.
Haingura is hopeful that the strategies formulated at the forum will address the challenges faced in the health sector and that the annual forum will not become a mere “talk shop”.
She stressed that the recommendations formulated at the nurses’ forum should be implemented to improve the health sector in the country.
Moreover, the deputy minister reminded that it is the sole responsibility of those in the health sector to change the recommendations made in the 2013 presidential enquiry report.
“If the profession is to flourish it is us, if it goes down the drain it is. We must value our profession,” she further told delegates.
Similarly, Haingura called upon senior nurses to be leading examples to the younger generation in order for their profession to advance.
Haingura advised nurses also to think about themselves and get counsellors to counsel them on traumas triggered by their working conditions while formulating strategies to reinvigorate the country’s health sector.
She reminded nurses of their noble profession relating that it is not an easy task but a noble one that requires a burning desire to serve the people.
Haingura further called upon nurses to draft a “Nurses Charter of Namibia” to define the values that anchor nursing in Namibia and that will serve as the guiding principle for the profession.
The forum is held to make collective decisions to improve patient care, network and to strengthen advocacy collaboration with training institutions and all relevant stakeholders.
By Nuusita Ashipala