No more foreign nurses for Nam

Namibia will no longer take in foreign nurses, as it is reserving vacancies for its first batch of student nurses expected to graduate at the end of this month.
The health ministry announced late yesterday afternoon that it was suspending the appointment of non-Namibian nurses. The retention-of-service contracts of nurses over the age of 60 would not be extended either.
According to health permanent secretary Andreas Mwoombola, no contracts expiring after 1 September will be renewed until all graduates are accommodated.
The contracts of medical officers will now only be extended for two years instead of four years.
“It is important to note that these measures will not affect specialised healthcare in certain domains, such as advanced maternal and neonatal care, and non-Namibians appointed under bilateral country agreements will not be affected by this decision,” said Mwoombola.
According to health public relations officer Libita Manga, 714 foreign health professionals are currently employed by the ministry. Among them are 314 registered nurses.
She could not immediately indicate how many of these nurses will be affected by this new turn of events.
This comes hot on the heels of an uproar over the government’s decision to retain foreign engineers and architects despite high unemployment among the country’s own professionals.
JEMIMA BEUKES