It seems that the powers-that-be in South Africa are about as dumb as they are over here. FYI, South Africa has one of the highest rates of AIDS in the world. That is in addition to a multitude of other more mundane health problems, and their healthcare system is in a bit of a crisis.

One of the problems is a dire nursing shortage, but due to horrendous working conditions and a piddly salary, their nurses are going to work abroad. Yeah, I know South Africa’s got problems, but governments have to realize at some point that nurses are not ethereal angels of mercy, who are willing to survive in mud huts and dine on bread crusts. South African nurses would like to be able to afford to live in a home with a flush toilet, and maybe be able to afford to busfare to work.

But it seems that the healthcare workers who haven’t fled the country are standing up for themselves and demanding better compensation. And so what does the government do? Fire them. Right on, guys. It’s not like they’ve got a whole lot of other workers waiting in line to replace them.

From Scientific American:

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s health department began firing health workers on Saturday over a week-old strike by public servants which has crippled government hospitals and schools, state media reported.

Are these people crazy or what? They don’t have enough healthcare workers, and do they think that firing these people is going to have a positive impact? Not only will they have less workers, but it surely isn’t going to entice anyone to go into healthcare professions.

On Friday soldiers helped doctors tend to patients at one hospital as the government vowed to assert control over the strike, called to enforce workers’ demand for a 10 percent salary increase, brought down from an initial 12 percent.

The government is offering 6.5 percent, but unions say this only just keeps pace with inflation, which quickened to 6.3 percent in April.

COSATU says it is urging all of its more than one million members to prepare for a general sympathy strike on Wednesday to push labour’s demands.

Let’s add a little more spice to this. The South African parliment recently awarded themselves a 57% pay increase, while nurses are supposed to be happy with 6%. So what’s wrong with this picture? Surely there is money to go around, except the government prefers to line the pockets of politicians with it. I’m sure that the average South African would much prefer that the wages of healthcare workers increased to the point where they wouldn’t be leaving the country.

Now here some great news that is sure to make people consider nursing as a career: New graduate nurses in Vermont make between $16 to $19 per hour, depending on geographic location. The highest starting salaries in Vermont are around $40,000 per year.

Now, Vermont isn’t one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S, but $16 an hour for a nurse? A nurse who has gone to school, may have a BSN, and who has sat for boards and passed? A person who is in charge of your life and whose very skill can save or kill you, and she’s being paid $16 an hour?

A high school graduate, with no training or skill, can make more than that working for the post office. Just consider the implications. A person who delivers the mail can make more money than the one pushing potent drugs into your veins.

I actually knew an LPN in Florida who had wanted to go back to school to get her RN, but was really struggling to support herself and two kids. Going back to school meant a time committment, student loans, and when she finished, she realized that the pay increase wasn’t going to be all that much. So, she applied for a job at the post office, took some sort of exam and passed, and left. I forgot what she was going to be doing there, but the hours were much better, and her pay was MORE than I was making as an RN!

Yes, I know, this is very politcally incorrect. All we need to do to fix a 50 year nursing shortage is just churn out more nurses. Silly me.