Maputo, 14 Mar (AIM) – The Mozambican Order of Nurses (OEM) has called on the government to cooperate with the Order so that it may improve the regulation and monitoring of nursing in the country.
According to the OEM chaiperson, Maria Lourenço, who was speaking to reporters on Thursday, in Maputo, after she led a delegation in a meeting with President Daniel Chapo, “our crucial role is to regulate the nursing profession in our country. In order to regulate, we call for the government’s contribution.”
The OEM’s meeting with Chapo took place three days after the Association of United Mozambican Health Professionals (APSUSM) threatened to resume its nationwide strike as of 31 March allegedly because the government left the health professionals behind during its programme for its first 100 days in office.
The OEM is not a trade union, and Lourenco declined to comment on the APSUSM call for a strike. The OEM is a professional body and, in theory, nobody can practice nursing without being a member.
“We need to know how many nurses there are”, said Lourenco. “In other words, these nurses must be registered and have a professional license in order to practice in Mozambique. The challenge we have is with former professionals. But there are no problems with the new nurses who are being trained, as they are aware that in order to apply for a nursing position they require a professional license”.
She stressed that as soon as it was declared that all nurses must have a professional license in order to practice, the existing nurses should have respected the law, taking into account that the State delegated licensing power to the OEM in 2016.
But many of the older generation of nurses have not joined the OEM and have no intention of doing so. They say they have practiced nursing for many years and see no need to obtain authorisation from the OEM.
Another concern is the Order’s current statutes which Lourenco says are out of date. “They don’t match what we’re experiencing, which is why we have reformulated them”, she said.
Lourenço added that the OEM has requested the government’s support for the construction of the first School of Nursing Sciences in the country.
(AIM)
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