Today on this special international nurses’ day, the Northern Cape Health MEC, Mr Maruping Lekwene pay a special tribute to all nurses in the Northern Cape for the critical role they continue to play during the COVID-19 pandemic and also being at the front line of patient care in health facilities. Nurses continue to ensure that patients acquire personalized, high-quality holistic services irrespective of patient’s infectious condition.The global celebration of the nursing profession is held annually on 12 May – the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale – and is led by the International Council of Nurses (ICN).
This year’s international nurses’ day is celebrated under a theme, “Nurses: A Voice to Lead, Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health”.
The theme demand for ‘real investment’ in nursing and the provincial health department align itself strongly to this demand.
“I had an opportunity to meet a number of outstanding people who have excelled in extremely trying areas of work, and yet have still managed to take the word ‘caring’ to another level. I have also come to appreciate the demands and challenges that are a daily reality for those working in the health care sector- often under difficult circumstances. The key demand for productivity is investment and we remain committed towards ensuring that adequate resources are available at your work spaces, to render quality health services to communities.
My advice is for all of us to take equal responsibility and fix the health system for the greater good and benefit of patients and health workers, in general. Total dedication, humanness, sacrifice, discipline, accountability, accessibility, loyalty, transparency and high quality care are some of the foundations of the nursing profession. By reinforcing such values into the primary health care setting, we will once again restore this profession to full capacity, in turn improving the quality of health services.” - MEC Lekwene said
The MEC also pay a special tribute to 45 health workers who sadly passed-on during the pandemic and to those who also became infected with COVID-19, recovered and bravely reported for duty to continue carrying the torch during this challenging period.
During this month, the department will kick off nurses’ celebrations with a much needed provincial prayer service and also acknowledge every nurse within our service by honouring them with the Cecilia Makiwane Award, which is historically provided to an excellent performing nurse who always goes beyond the call of duty.
Official Office hours of the department is from Mondays to Fridays, 07h30 to 16h00 (7h30am to 4h00pm). The department can be reached after hours by email or by making use of the log query facility on the Departmental Website located under the menu Contact Us / 
