Maseru, Lesotho
Lesotho Nurses Association has petitioned Parliament of Lesotho to address high rate of unemployment of nurses. The nurse training institutions produce an average pool of 200 nurses and midwifes annually at certificate, diploma and bachelors level, with majority at diploma level.
The letter dated 23 April 2024, outlines Lesotho Nurses Association’s concerns regarding the high unemployment rate of nurses. Notably, the association points out that among unemployed nurses, majority finds themselves wanting as in 2020 unemployment rate of nurses and midwives at 28.43% which was even 4% higher than the national unemployment rate of 24%. Emphasizing there is a 33% gap between the financial space and what is required to guarantee employment for all health workers in the supply pipeline.
Furthermore, the student nurses are supported financially by the Government of Lesotho through National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS) and subventions respectively. They stated growing unemployment of nurses calls for immediate intervention by the oversight institutions like Parliament of Lesotho as it weakens value of the massive investment in training nurses. The international council of nurses estimates the global shortage of nurses at 6 million and estimated to increase to 13 million in the next decade.
Additionally there is a growing appetite of migration by nurses in Lesotho as 86% are considering migration although there are structural challenges caused by Lesotho’s red list grading by Health Organization. Lesotho Nurses association states that high income countries with existing diplomatic relations with Lesotho such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as well as the gulf regions are actively looking for nurses to fill their nursing post across their health sector.
Moreover, they indicated that international center of Nurse Migration reported in 2016 66% nurses in the United States alone remitted more than 10% of their income to their relatives in their home countries totaling to USD1.6 Billion.
Lesotho Nurses Association emphasized that they call on the Parliament of Lesotho to urge the Government of Lesotho to establish a structured nursing labour migration through bi-lateral agreement with the high income countries to address chronic unemployment of nurses. With this, Lesotho will benefit economically through remittances, contribution to the health system by returning nurses, exchange programs with partner countries and support for education of more nurses and other critical sectors by partner countries. They also stated that they are committed to support the Parliament and the Government of Lesotho throughout this process.
