Nurses encouraged to use BONU

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Monday December 9, 2013 11:22

Speaking at the union’s first annual general meeting, Tsheko said it was good that the union was established and that he hoped the union and the employer would fully engage each other to resolve the challenges of health professional. 

He told the nurses that the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health was empowered to resolve workers’ common issues like overtime payments and unfair transfers.

“There are structures in place,” he said. “The Permanent Secretary is empowered to deal with human resource issues. Only when the Permanent Secretary has been unable to resolve the problems can they be passed through to us.”

For their part, the nurses expressed dissatisfaction with DSPM’s failure to resolve their problems for years.

They said they had hoped that Tsheko would come with specific answers to specific situations, rather than talk about general issues.

They want their unique problems resolved, they emphasised. Some complained of not being paid for overtime work, transfers that separated them from their spouses and staying too long in remote areas while others enjoyed city life.  They also complained of leaders who habitually told untruths about availability of ambulances and drugs when that was not the case. They said this created conflict between the public and health workers when patients were ultimately told that there was no transport or drugs.

Botswana Nurses Union was established a year ago when the Nurses Association of Botswana was resolved.