Fin24 reports that Netcare used to train thousands of nurses each year, but as it awaits accreditation, it has been forced to turn away applicants in droves and cut the number of nurses it trains by some 90%.  

"Certainly, the one thing that keeps us awake at night is the number of nurses that are being trained," Netcare MD Jacques du Plessis told investors during his presentation of the group's financials. Netcare used to train around 3,500 nurses a year through its own nursing colleges. Now it is allowed only to train about 10% of that. It is supplementing its capacity by using agency nurses, and it's coping well now because, at current occupancy rates, its hospitals are not full. The group has also taken all administration tasks out of nurses' duties. Friedland later indicated that Netcare had the capacity and willingness to produce the number of nurses it needed should occupancy in its hospitals reach 80% or more. But it has been waiting for permission from the government to do that for the past four years. "We were the largest trainer of nurses in the private sector. We are still waiting for accreditation and permission to train in KwaZulu-Natal from the government, the Department of Health, and the South African Nursing Council. We're appealing for these pipelines to be open because we have thousands upon thousands of applicants per year that we have to turn away," he advised. He said the group was experiencing the same problem with IT professionals in terms of being able to train enough data scientists for its needs.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Londiwe Buthelezi at Fin24 (subscriber access only)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page