Hurdles for foreign nurses

Belgian national Lore Claessens was desperate enough to wait two years to register as a midwife in South Africa so that she could work in an understaffed rural hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.

"The wait was endless," said the 26-year-old.

Following an article published in The Times on Tuesday, which revealed that foreign doctors face a long wait to register before they can work in the country's hospitals, it was found that foreign nurses face even longer delays.

Claessens applied in September 2008 to work as a midwife with the South African Nursing Council.

She flew to South Africa in November of that year "to speed up the process" by personally visiting SANC as "the whole process was taking forever" and frequent phone calls did not help.

Claessens wrote three exams in February 2009 and three months later learnt that she had passed with distinction.

"But it wasn't over," because she needed a job offer from a rural hospital before she could register and all nursing posts in KwaZulu-Natal were frozen.

While waiting for a permanent offer she got a six-month volunteer permit to work at the Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugela Ferry, KwaZulu-Natal.

In January this year Claessens got a job offer, but had to leave because her permit expired and SANC had not registered her yet.

On May 18 she received a work permit and on June 1 she began work.

"I'm very, very happy that I'm here - it's a choice I made."

Saul Kornik, chief of Africa Health Placements, an agency that helps place foreign doctors in rural hospitals in South Africa, said: "Hundreds of nurses have approached us even though we haven't even marketed to attract nurses.

"We tell them it is a very onerous process which takes over a year, it can take two years depending on what obstacles we encounter."

Kornik said that since AHP started five years ago they have placed 900 foreign doctors.

It has managed to place only "four or five" nurses. South Africa is expected to face a shortage of 60000 nurses next year.

Nurses, like doctors, must first apply to the Foreign Workforce Management Programme, which is run by the Department of Health. While doctors' qualifications are assessed by the HPCSA, nurses' qualifications must be checked by SANC.

Government policy does not allow for the recruitment of doctors from developing African countries where there is already a shortage of medical staff.

Some highly qualified foreign doctors are exempt from writing exams by HPCSA, but Kornik said it was a "huge deterrent" that SANC expected all nurses to write exams in South Africa.

SANC spokesman Party-Day Moloi said delays were caused by issues such as non-compliance, incomplete documentation, transcripts delays and verifications from the applicant's own country. - mcleah@thetimes.co.za