By ZWELETHU DLAMINI | 2018-12-16
Foreign nurses working in the country and those wishing to work here may need to consider applying for jobs in their native countries or other countries as they literary have about six months to find new jobs.
This follows that the ministry of labour and social security, under the Training and Localisation Unit, has frozen the awarding of work permits to expatriate nurses with effect from January 2019. This was disclosed by senior localisation officer Vusi Ndlovu during an interview with this newspaper.
Although teacherswill eventually also be affected by this regulation, it was gathered that government has not considered their issue as urgent as that of nurses. However, they are also expected to follow suit once the nurses have vacated.
Government, through medical training institutions, is said to have trained enough nurses to meet the local demand in government hospitals, clinics and private hospitals to close the gap that existed in the past.
Officials from the ministry of health revealed that hundreds of nurses who had graduated over the years in institutions have not been able to find employment in both government and private hospitals and clinics. “Government has long stopped recruiting expatriate nurses and as a result it is trying to ensure that locals are prioritised,” said another official.
The said increase in the number of qualified local nurses has reportedly necessitated the phasing out of work permits awarded to foreign recruits.
“Expatriate nurses already in employment will retain their work permits until they expire. On renewal, these permits will only be valid for six months. New applications are no longer accepted. All public and private hospitals, health centres and clinics will need to find qualified local nurses as replacements,” Ndlovu revealed.
The official revealed that a majority of expatriate nurses working in the kingdom were mainly from Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia to name a few.
He said the ministry of labour and social security had been under pressure to prioritise the employment of local nurses following an outcry for jobs as some of the nursing positions were occupied by expatriate nurses.
When asked on other professionals to be affected by this regulation, Ndlovu said the ministry was currently reviewing work permits issued to expatriate teachers.
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