'Poorly Behaved Nurses' and Inequality in SA's Healthcare Sector
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- Published on Friday, 21 February 2020 05:08
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2004 ... February 21, 2020
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‘Poorly Behaved Nurses’ and Inequality in SA’s Healthcare Sector
Salimah Valiani
Nurses in South Africa get a bad rap. Whether by journalists, politicians, academics, patients or bosses, nurses -- particularly in the public sector -- are criticized, vilified and scrutinized. Little consideration is given to the trying context in which they work.
Nurses hold 81 per cent of filled professional positions in the public healthcare sector and carry the bulk of responsibility of paid care in a country that in 2019 achieved "the most unhealthy nation in the world" status in the Indigo Wellness Index. The index ranks countries according to measures of blood pressure, blood glucose, obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol use, tobacco use, exercise, healthy life expectancy and government spending on healthcare.
The last on this list -- government spending on healthcare -- is a key link I make to the bad rap given to nurses in a recently published article, "Public Healthcare Spending in South Africa and the Impact on Nurses: 25 years of democracy?"
The article is part of... feminist journal Agenda’s attempt to evaluate 25 years of South African democracy from a feminist economics perspective.
