Africa-Press – Angola. The general secretary of the National Union of Nurses of Angola (Sindea) today expressed his support for the closure of clinical analysis and nursing courses, considering that rigor is necessary to ensure quality.
The Angolan Ministries of Education and Health have determined, in a joint executive decree, the closure of all public and private secondary technical health education institutions that do not meet the conditions for their operation, with a five-year moratorium for the necessary improvements.
Speaking to Lusa, Cruz Mateta said that a study was carried out on the functioning of private schools, in which the union participated, and that problems were found in practice.
“The institutes have classrooms, but no laboratories. The students had theory, but no practical experience,” he stressed, adding that only theoretical classes were taught. “When there is no practical experience, we do not produce quality education.
That’s why, in 2023, a moratorium was placed on schools to create conditions to set up laboratories, and many of the schools were unable to do so”, he explained. This year, in January and February, the Ministries of Health and Education, the union and professional associations met to carry out an assessment and it became clear that it was necessary to “impose rigor in order to ensure quality”, and it was decided that schools without the required conditions, namely a lack of laboratories for practical classes, would not be able to accept new enrolments.
“We also agree, because we need to focus on quality training and not quantity,” he stressed.
When asked whether the measure will not impact the recruitment of human resources for this area, Cruz Mateta said that it will not be a problem, because there are still many nurses outside the national health system who have not been included in the public service.
“There are still human resources and in addition there are schools that have not been mentioned, which means that those that meet the conditions will continue to be trained,” he said. Institutions were closed in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Bengo, Cuanza Sul, Huambo, Icolo e Bengo, Huíla, Malanje, Namibe and Uíje.
In Luanda, one of the institutions that is prevented from enrolling students in the next school year, which starts in September, is the Luanda Technical School of Health – IMS, a public institution. According to the secretary general of Sindea, “it does not matter whether they are public or private institutions”, the decree states that they must create “the indispensable conditions to administer classes and ensure that students graduate with quality, and IMS is also included”.
Cruz Mateta stressed the importance of the measure, highlighting that “when a student is not well educated from school onwards and is then included in the national health system, he will show deficiencies”, with implications at the level of assistance.
Sindea has 49,960 registered nurses in the national health system throughout the country, of which 32,720 are its members, while the Order of Nurses of Angola, the regulatory body for the profession, has close to 95,000 professionals.
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