Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) would like to applaud and support the provincial department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal for deciding to take over McCord hospital and thus prevent it from closing its doors.

This shows that the move by government is in the best interest of serving people and ensuring that access to quality care is realised.

"As the organisation for nurses, we pledge our support to government and commit to ensuring that patients continue to receive the best care at the hospital. We are especially humbled by the fact that the hospital will now be a public hospital, which will ensure that more needy patients will now be treated at the hospital. This supports the noble idea of the universal access to healthcare," says Cassim Lekhoathi, Provincial Secretary of DENOSA in KwaZulu-Natal.

As we have pleaded before, we are happy that the talks between the hospital management and the provincial department of Health were indeed informed by the interest to fight the burden of diseases and care for the sick and vulnerable, and that a reasonable solution was arrived at.

Like many other hospitals, McCord hospital is a key centre that will play a leading role as South Africa prepares for the gradual implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI), and keeping its doors open will ensure that at least the current workforce of health professionals at McCord is not lost in the health system at the time when their service is greatly needed.

"As DENOSA, we hope that the focus of the department will be on ensuring that the hospital keeps its doors and that access to health is maximized and extended to most people who need it the most," says Lekhoathi.

Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA)