Nurses, midwives demand urgent enactment of pending regulatory bill

South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association and the Council of Nurses and Midwives have called for the urgent enactment of the Nurse and Midwives Bill once the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly becomes fully functional.

Nurses and Midwives account for 50 per cent of the global health workforce and they play a critical role in health promotion and disease prevention as well as delivering primary and community care.

“This bill is very important because it regulates the work of the nurses and midwives. It gives them the scope of their obligation. It also provides a legal framework and accord with the council power to govern and manage all nurses and midwives nationwide,” said Pepent Khamis, the National Chairperson for South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association.

Khamis added that: “Through the bill, the council will take full charge by registering all the nurses and midwives practitioners in the country,” he added.

Khamis said the bill will bridge the gap between nurses and midwives through the association and the government as well as holding their members accountable for any misconduct and abuse of ethics.

He revealed that the bill ensures that quality and safe nursing and midwifery services are provided to the public.

“This bill also will ensure that South Sudan meet the required international standards and be on par with another country in the region with enacted nursing and midwives bill and council,” he said.

From 2011 the process of the bill drafting began and up to now, the bill has not been enacted. The chairperson relays concerns over the risk it poses on the lives of South Sudanese being handled by nurses and midwives not regulated by any law.

A tutor at South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association, Saka Jemelia said the employers of nurses and midwives should put the mechanism in place to promote the assessment of the knowledge, skills,  and personal attributes required for best health practices.