Musenge urges dedication from Graduating nurses

COPPERBELT Minister Mwenya Musenge has called on nurses to be conversant with its health policies and strategies to enable them effectively contribute to proper health delivery.
Mr Musenge said during the graduation ceremony of 571 nurses from six Copperbelt nursing schools at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola yesterday, that nurses should be conversant with Government health policies and strategies so that they could effectively operate and contribute to national development.
“In addition, nurses should be driven by tenets of the code of ethics for public service namely integrity, honesty, objectivity, impartiality, loyalty, respect, accountability, excellence, confidentiality and selflessness as you execute your duties,” Mr Musenge said.
He said nursing was not just a job but a calling and nurses, therefore, had the responsibility for their personal and professional growth by being updated with latest medical developments and help improve service delivery to patients.
Mr Musenge said Government was, however, aware of the challenges faced by nurses and nursing schools and that was why it gave every public nursing school a 36-seater mini bus to help alleviate transport challenges.
It was pleasing, Mr Musenge said, that private institutions were also supplementing Government efforts in providing good health care to Zambians by training nurses.
Government had stepped up efforts to provide trained medical staff to all hospitals and health posts, especially the newly ones created by introducing nursing e-learning courses which would train 6, 000 nurses in a space of five years. Meanwhile, Ndola Central Hospital senior superintendent Dande Malawo urged the graduates to be professional and hardworking to help change the negative perception which the public had against nurses. Dr Malawo said it was the duty of nurses to change that view by giving empathetic loving care to patients.

Times of Zambia