Cape Town - Failure to pay their annual fees is the majority reason behind the termination of 21 332 nurses’ memberships from the South African Nurses Council (SANC).
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said in response to parliamentary questions that 21 090 nurses were removed from the roll because they failed to pay the annual fee, while 111 others passed away and 103 were removed at their request.
Ten were removed from the nurses' roll after facing disciplinary proceedings.
“As per the information received from the SANC, the total number of nurses whose membership was terminated or their names removed due to their registration lapsing is 21 332 over the period of 2021 to 2022,” Phaahla said.
He was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Michele Clarke when she asked about the number of nurses who had been terminated due to their registration lapsing, and what steps had been taken to assist nurses with their lapsed registration.
Phaahla’s response showed that Gauteng led with the highest number of nurses with lapsed membership at 5 321, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 4 779, the Eastern Cape at 3 045, and the Western Cape at 2 713.
Limpopo had 1 643 affected nurses, North West 1 375, Free State 1 089, Mpumalanga 934, Northern Cape 345, and foreign national 88.
Phaahla said that to assist nurses with their lapsed registration, the department had signed an agreement on payment of annual statutory registration fees for health and social development professionals at the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council.
He said the move was to introduce mandatory deductions of professional registration fees from the salary of employees as required by the respective statutory professional bodies in the Health and Social Development departments.
Phaahla also said the move would assist in the monitoring of potential risks and compliance with registration requirements for appointment and practice as stipulated in the respective statutory professional bodies in the departments.
Cape Times