The government has acknowledged the hard work of Nurses and Midwives, saying they are contributing to safe deliveries at the villages and primary healthcare levels and providing complementary to the health profession.
Dr. Victoria Anib Majur, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, says Nurses and Midwives are underpaid, overworks, and faces difficult time during their job but never cease making effort to safe lives.
On Wednesday, South Sudan celebrated Midwives and Nurses’ Day of 100 years in progressive service to their communities.
Dr. Anib says Nurses and Midwives play significant roles in reducing the maternal maternity rate.
“Although they are happy, dancing brings tears to my eye because of their working condition. These people are working for long hours. They stay for months without salaries. They don’t even have allowances, but they keep themselves in the profession despite those challenges. They continue to work tirelessly in the hospitals,” Anib said.
She called for improved wages for all health professionals and other civil servants in the country. “The solution is beyond the Ministry of health. I urged our top leadership to increase the salaries of civil servants across the board,” she stated.
Dr. Anib worried that doctors are pushed to leave their careers and seek better pay jobs with NGOs and private sectors, which she described as a challenge to the government. She encouraged the health workers to keep the spirit till the situation improved.
“Budget for health is very small; it cannot provide everything you want. Please bear with us, and let’s work together to change the status quo.”
Ms. Ludia Keji Sona, one of the oldest Midwives, said she started working in the hospital in 1974 as a traditional birth attendant until she became a trained midwife.
Keji says many professional health workers in South Sudan need to be motivated and ensure better treatment can be provided locally.
She is unpleasant seeing South Sudanese continue going into foreign countries seeking better healthcare which could be done at home.
The health worker has urged the Ministry of health to take bold steps to improve the situation. “Midwives and Nurses and close to God. They help women give birth safely, present the child to the mother, and tell her congratulations.”
One of the Midwife students at Juba Teaching hospital, Modong Betty, says they face challenges during the practical due to insufficient equipment.
The medics has called the government to invest in nursing and Midwifery, respect their rights to secure global health and better future healthcare system for South Sudan.