Nurses urged to maintain stability

The president of the Papua New Guinea Nurses’ Association (PNGNA) Fredrick Kebai has called on his executive members to maintain stability in leadership for the next three years.
Kebai made this appeal during the swearing-in ceremony of the association’s executives on Friday in Port Moresby.
He said that in the next three years he would like to see union activities sustained and carried to a higher level to achieve maximum benefits for the financial members.
“This means that the two per cent members’ contributions must be given back to the members in the form of tangible developments to benefit them directly apart from ongoing benefits they normally received through industrial awards and professional activities such as the nurses’ symposium and legal assistance,” Kebai said.
“I want to see less money spent on administrative operations and national executive council meetings and ensure that branch and regional executives are empowered financially to reach out to financial members in the remote isolated rural areas.”
He said his theme as the new president was “Give back to the members” and he appealed to the executive members to embrace that in the next three years of their tenure.
Kebai said some of his priorities included:

•  A continued aggressive drive for a welfare fund;
•  the appointment of the association’s general secretary;
•  a review of awards for all nurses including those in administrative roles and giving clear cut instructions to human resource managers on how to implement the awards without confusion;
•  a speedy implementation of the work value study;
•  funding for branch and regional executives on time for them to continue to drive nurses’ issues and activities at their level;
•  improved networking with sister unions;
•  collaborating and networking with sister unions to fight to reduce income tax in the country; and,
•  The presidential scholarship programme for training and development.
  “We at the provincial and regional branches have been mandated to represent the nurses around the country,” he said.
  “The trust and confidence in us can have greater impact and we can make a difference only if we are untied as one family built upon trust, honesty, teamwork and integrity.”
  He said leadership and management were all about working with and through people and his short and long-term goals could only be achieved through active participation and collaboration from the Papua New Guinea Nurses’ Association executives, association members, the secretariat staff and service providers.