THE nursing profession is one of the most key and noble callings the world over.
People rely on nurses for their health because there is so much trust and integrity associated with nursing.
This is why reports that nurses are demanding bribes to activate the quick response (QR) codes on COVID-19 vaccination cards are shocking to say the least.
This is a service that is offered for free, but corrupt nurses have found an opportunity to cream off society for personal gain.
The question is: What else is not being sold on the backstage if corruption in the health delivery system has reached this level?
Bribes of up to US$100 for people to jump queues, given the high demand for this service as people travel, translates into fortunes for nurses.
But the problem is many of those that genuinely need the service but are poor cannot get it.
It brings us back to the roundly condemned situation where those with money get public services ahead of the rest.
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It is unacceptable.
And such behaviour must be nipped in the bud before the situation deteriorates.
The problem is if government does not act now, it is creating a corrupt nursing system whose scourge would extend to all facets of the health delivery system.
Soon, many of society’s poor will be shut out of the health system, and needless deaths will rise because of corruption.
It is already known that nurses are among many health professionals, including pharmacists, who steal medical sundries from public hospitals and clinics for resale on the black market.
The end result is that those in need of drugs don’t find them in State hospitals, where prices are fairly cheap.
They end up not getting the attention they need, and sometime die because of lack of drugs.
By not reading the riot act, government is sending the message, that nurses can act as they please with our lives and get away with it.
Government spends millions of dollars buying drugs to assist the poor, but these end up in the homes of a few with money, privileged to know nurses, or are related to them.
Government must descend heavily on these malcontents if its anti-corruption drive is to be taken seriously.
