Dear Editor – I wish to be given the opportunity to write through this forum to express my concern over the issue of nursing students who are still waiting to do their probation.
To my understanding once the nursing students completed their studies, they will have to undergo a year of probation by working in any of our clinics where they will be assessed before being admitted as a registered nurse.
But for a number of nursing students who have completed their studies last year at the Atoifi nursing school they have never been given the opportunity do their probation since the start of this year.
I have been reliably informed that close to 13 students are still waiting for any opportunity to do their one year probation before becoming a registered nurse (RN).
We are now towards the end of the year and the nurses are still waiting in vain.
I believe the Solomon Islands nursing council should be responsible for this because they are mandated by the government to deal with nursing issues.
Therefore my question and may be the students nurse as well, is why the delay? What is the problem in getting new nurses to work on probation?
I sympathise with the students, their parents, guardians and relatives who have invested a lot of money into their child’s education to study nursing for all these years and yet they have to wait like this.
The nursing council needs to provide some answers to these students and their parents/guardians.
Our health service is very important because of the growing numbers of diseases that we are facing today. We need the services of our nurse more so recruiting of more nurses to address our health concerns.
I heard that there are many rural communities or even at our main hospitals which lacks nurses.
If so why not recruit these new ones. They are new and fresh from the school and they need to make use of their skills.
My call to the nursing council is to please just explain to the students are still jobless.
Our nurses are very important for our health system and we must support them.
In the meantime I thanked the nursing council for your continuous work in supporting our nurses in the country.
Thank you and I do hope to get some response from you soon so that these nursing students can get some updates.
Mambo Fangaria
East Honiara
