Nurses country wide have petitioned the Ministry of Health (MOH) over the issue of non Nursing duties, for which they are not paid.
The Secretary General of the Botswana Land Boards and Local Authorities Workers’ Union, Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, said, “This follows an issue, which was raised to the Health Ministry some time in 2008; Nurses indicated that their Act of duties states nursing duties and non-nursing duties. Both duties ought to be done but non-nursing duties are not paid for and are also not included in their job description, so they are not covered for compensation and by insurance.”
Motshegwa explained that the MOH has promised to give a response within a period of three months (from 10 March to May 10).
“The Task Force team has found it necessary for nurses to perform the non-nursing duties in the mean time while they wait for the response,” said Motshegwa.
He added that the duty of the nurse is to do consultation only and dispensing pills and giving injection or making dressing are non-nursing duties but may be done by the pharmacist and the Doctor.
A nurse who spoke during the gathering said that it is high time nurses stopped both to be abused and the exploitation.
She said if they could be paid for such duties the insurance would cover them too and they would not be having any fear that they may be sued for performing duties not in their job description.
The nurses say if non-nursing duties could be put in their job description, then it would make every thing cheaper because they would not have to, for example, put a pharmacist in every clinic.
The nurses continued to raise their concerns that they have opted for review of their Act so that they become progressive and for them to also be able to cope with today’s challenges if facilities are brought to them.
They also indicated that it is not their duty to seek for job description because it is the employer who is to prescribe duties and not them.
