BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Government has come out to clarify the stance of Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini, regarding the employment of nurses in the country and abroad.
Speaking today to the SiSwati Channel of Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS 1), Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said when the prime minister suggested that nurses should be exported, he meant that they should be allowed to be employed overseas, as it had been happening.
Nxumalo said the premier mentioned that the institutions should continue to produce more nurses, with an intention to also look at the possibilities of exporting them. Nxumalo was responding to a concern raised by Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), which expressed shock at the statement uttered by the premier when he launched the Nursing Leadership Initiative on Monday at Hilton Garden Inn, Mbabane.
Dlamini stated during that event that Eswatini was not going to be able to employ all the nurses because the country’s economy was small. Nxumalo said he would not be able to comment on the shock of the nurses because the prime minister was not an entertainer, who would do things to amuse someone. He said the issue of nurses being employed overseas affected many African countries because the pay was better overseas, compared to many African countries.
Nxumalo said it was a pity that nurses were beginning to be shocked when the premier was still expressing an opinion to encourage people to change their mindset and stop thinking that everyone who graduated was supposed to be employed by Government. Nxumalo further urged nurses to hastily alert Government when there were vacancies within the industry.
He said Government noted that the exodus of nurses caused for vacancies to exist within the nursing profession. Nxumalo noted that Government would sort that issue because prior, there had been a problem of the hiring freeze.
