Student nurses have no books

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) in Gauteng is campaigning for student nurses at the Ann Latsky Nursing College in Johannesburg‚ where a protest against non-delivery of books began on Monday.

Protesting students have been locked out of the gates at the college‚ Denosa said on Wednesday.

"Last year’s students only received their books in September‚ a month before they were due to write their final examinations‚" the union said.

The union said the department undertook to provide students with electronic notepads‚ which would be loaded with e-books. "But in few instances where those notepads were provided‚ they did not have the e-books‚ which left students in limbo."

In January‚ TimesLIVE reported that 700 nursing candidates feared they would not be able to study for a four-year diploma at three Gauteng colleges this year - Ann Latsky‚ Chris Hani Baragwanath and SG Lourens - because the cash-strapped provincial health department could not afford to fund their studies.

The department said this was not the case - the state-funded nurses would be able to enrol‚ but only when its budget allowed.

"The nursing candidates will be taken in but the academic year will be delayed. Their academic year will only start at the beginning of the department’s financial year. This only applies to candidate nurses doing their first year‚" department spokesperson Lesemang Matuka said at the time.

In March‚ the department of health received the biggest slice of the provincial budget with R46.4-billion‚ about 38% of the total budget for the 2018/19 financial year.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has set up a special task team to help turn the health department’s finances around.

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