Can you imagine being one of 70 nurses caring for 3,400 patients? You, alone, would have to be responsible for the comfort and lives of almost 50 patients at any time.

This is the situation at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the main referral hospital in Lesotho, an enclave of South Africa. Is there any wonder that healthcare workers there are leaving the country for “greener pastures”?

Lesotho’s people are in desperate need of healthcare especially when 23.2 percent of its people are living with HIV/AIDS. That translates to 265,000 people with 49,400 needing antiretroviral treatment.

The government is planning to hire 200 nurses from Kenya and 16 (!) doctors from India. Someone’s hell hole is another’s green pasture.

Here’s a reality check broadcast by Ministry of Health’s Human Resources Manager Koenene Leanya on national radio:

We are also revising remuneration to attract personnel into the health sector. Currently a basic monthly salary for a nurse with a general nursing education is R2,900 [US $470] while for midwives the salary is R3,200 [US $520].

When I lived in Vietnam, the average monthly salary in the main metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City was just over $100 USD. This offer must seem like a fortune to the average person in Lesotho. Yet, it’s still not enough to keep their most highly trained and educated healthcare providers from leaving them.

Those of us in rich developed countries can’t turn a blind eye from both humanitarian and selfish standpoints. What affects one country will surely affect another, and another, and another, until it reaches you or someone you know. Take a look at bird flu.

Reuters, April 27, 2006

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