Cape Town – The Western Cape is recruiting over 5,000 additional doctors, nurses and other health workers to fight the Covid-19 crisis in the province.
The province is urging health workers from across the country to apply, including private GPs and nurses.
Health MEC in the Western Cape Nomafrench Mbombo said the province needs over 4,000 doctors and nurses, as well as over a thousand administrative and support staff to assist at existing and new coronavirus treatment facilities, like the Hospital of Hope.
This number makes provision for the 20% absenteeism due to staff being infected with the virus or self-isolating after possible exposure, and this is placing a lot of strain on nurses in the province.
However, many graduate nurses who would like to help, can’t do so because of registration delays at the SA Nursing Council.
The Council’s offices had to be closed at the beginning of the lockdown and only opened again this week, while the available online assistance was not always efficient.
According to the Council’s CEO Sibongile Mchunu, over 1,000 graduate nurses’ registrations are pending because academic institutions did not submit their results on time.
256 of those awaiting registration are in the Western Cape.
