South Africa’s nursing crisis in numbers

South Africa’s 119 nursing colleges are running at 110 % of their capacity, but with less than half the optimal number of staff, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has told parliament.
In written replies to questions put by Democratic Alliance health spokesman Mike Waters, Motsoaledi said the state’s nursing colleges and schools should have 4 479 staff, but actually have only 2 033, which is 45.5 % of the optimal level.
But while they have the capacity to train 19 575 nurses at any one time, the colleges actually have 21 462 students enrolled.
Motsoaledi conceded that only 19 schools and colleges had been inspected since 1998 to make sure the meet the state’s requirements and the most recent inspections were in 2004.
“That figure really is disgusting. It makes my blood boil,” Waters said.
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