Reviewed proposal for nurses’ award given to dept

THE PNG Nurses’ Association submitted the reviewed nurses’ award proposal for 2019-2021 to the Health Department yesterday.
President Fredrick Kebai said the association executives, on behalf of the 3600-plus members, were presenting the new proposal after discussing issues affecting union operations and making amendments.
“The reviewed proposal has been expanded to cover nurses in management and leadership roles as well as nursing academics who were not part of the nurses’ award in the 2016-2018 nurses’ award.”
Kebai said they were appealing to the Government, especially the Health Department, to start negotiations with them on the proposal and sort out the issues before the end of the year.
Association general-secretary Gibson Siune said the purpose of nurses’ award was to recognise nurses’ commitment to the health services and to uphold the profession of nursing in the country.
“The Government’s free healthcare policy has increased the flow of patients into hospitals and clinics, increasing the workload,” he said.
“In rural areas, nurses-to-patients ratio is 1:80 per day and this is too much workload for them. We have to acknowledge them.”
Health Department senior relations officer Mulina Kwalimu, when receiving the proposal, said the department’s focus was to work with all unions in the health sector.