As the world today marks International Nurses Day, South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Chairperson, Deputy President David Mabuza, has saluted local nurses for their service against the novel Coronavirus.
Each year on 12 May, the world observes International Nurses Day to mark and recognise the significant contribution that nurses make to society.
“We take this opportunity to convey our special and sincere gratitude to all our nurses throughout the country, for their dedication in providing healthcare support to our people,” he said on Tuesday.
The Deputy President said nurses play an important role in saving lives by providing quality treatment and care.
“Whilst our country and indeed the whole world is confronted by the COVID-19 virus, which affects all elements of the social and economic fabric, it is our nurses as frontline workers, who care and instil hope in the minds of the patients,” said Deputy President Mabuza.
In line with the 2020 theme of ‘Nursing the world to health’, Deputy President Mabuza lauded the meaningful role played by nurses in the fight against COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) in the face of current unprecedented workload of tracing, testing and treating patients with COVID-19, while also keeping with other essential health services.
The Deputy President called on South Africans to celebrate nurses as unsung heroes who risk their lives in the frontline of the fight against the virus.
Through SANAC, he called on all South Africans to screen for HIV and TB so that they may be put on treatment and as such, they would not be worse off should they be infected by COVID-19.
Equally, he implored those that are already on treatment for HIV and TB to continue with their treatment uninterrupted so that their bodies can withstand the infection should they get infected with COVID-19.
“This is an opportune moment for all South Africans to know their status so that we take the necessary actions about our life,” he said.
The Deputy President called on citizens to work together as partners, to contribute in the fight against this battle through ensuring that:
- Everyone knows their health status;
- Trace, find, diagnose and place on treatment the missing TB patients;
- Intensify the fight against stigma and discrimination against those infected with TB, HIV; and extend our support to those testing positive to COVID-19 virus.
“We further call on all our people across the country, to observe this important day, International Nurses Day, by expressing messages of gratitude to all our nurses who are at the frontline of our health care service in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Deputy President Mabuza.