It has come to light that South Africa’s health care sector lacks about 40,000 nurses. The Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi said that it will take 20 years to fill the shortage of the nurses. About 106 new nursing colleges will be opened to cater to the urgent need of the hospitals. It is believed that the new nurse colleges will double the number of nurses.

It has emerged that the misguided decision of the government taken 15 years ago to close nursing colleges and shifting nursing training to university has led to the shortage of nurses. Moreover, it is in this period only, when the management appointment in the public health service increased by almost 160%.

It is believed that the shortage of nurses will get worse as 43.7% of registered professional nurses in SA are above the age of 50 and younger nurses are not being trained quickly enough to replace them when they retire.

Motsoaledi is determined to tackle the problems of nurses at the SA’s public health service. The new approach to the training of nurses seems to be positive but it will take some time before the impact will be felt. Adding more nurses to the wards is only one aspect of a much larger effort to make the health service work for all.