The Citizen reports that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday applauded the nurses of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) at the union’s 20th anniversary event.
He was delivering the keynote address to hundreds of nurses at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and said they were not only the backbone of the country’s healthcare system, but were also the “heartbeat and lifeblood”. Ramaphosa stated: “Exactly 20 years ago, former president Nelson Mandela lauded the arrival and formation of this union as a turning point in the history of the nursing profession in our country. You revolutionised nursing and you repositioned nursing. Until the formation of Denosa, nurses in this country had been largely defined by racial divisions.” He noted that Denosa had done away with race-based nursing organisations and said that today it was the only authentic voice of nurses in the country.
- Read this report by Virginia Keppler in full at The Citizen
- Read Ramaphosa’s address in full at SA Labour News
- See too, Nurses vital to SA's HIV/Aids fight: Ramaphosa, at Pretoria News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page