THE Lesotho Nursing Council (LNC) has taken a swipe at nursing and midwifery personnel who are on go-slow for salary hikes, accusing them of acting both unethically and unprofessionally, while also putting patients under their care at risk.

The council has also appealed to the picketing health care providers to get proper guidance on how to table their grievances in accordance with laws that govern the trade in terms of industrial actions.  

There are 343 health care professionals who are on strike and they are drawn from the country’s only referral facility Queen ’Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) better known as Tšepong along with the centre’s filter clinics including Qoaling, Mabote and Likotsi.

LNC contends that such ‘unethical’ conduct cannot be tolerated as it tarnishes the image of the nursing profession while also destroying the trust patients and the society have in nurses and midwives.

The Registrar of LNC Flavia Moetsane-Poka has therefore appealed to the health care providers on strike to follow the appropriate procedures so that their grievances could be accordingly addressed.

Mrs Moetsane-Poka said their responsibilities as nurses, midwives and nursing assistants include among others to promote health, prevent illness, restore and alleviate suffering.

“LNC therefore calls for involved parties to work towards protecting patients and averting unnecessary mortalities,” she said during a press briefing that was held in Maseru on Wednesday.

QMMH nurses downed tools on January 28, demanding a review of their salaries which were last visited in 2012.

Prior to that, Tšepong management had informed its nurses and nursing assistants that the hospital would operate as another centre where confirmed COVID-19 cases would be managed. The hospital also showed that the Ministry of Health would deploy other nurses and nursing assistants to assist in managing the cases while Tšepong staff would be allocated to capacitate them, through sharing of skills.