Nurses’ council, ACC sign MoU

Nurses’ council, ACC sign MoU
Written by Ernest Chanda
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 6:16:36 PM

THE Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has agreed to help the General Nursing Council of Zambia (GNC) fight corruption in the enrolment of student nurses and midwives in nursing schools countrywide.

During the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two organisations in Lusaka yesterday, ACC deputy director general said the Commission would ensure that the recruitment process was free from corruption.

“The objective of the MoU is to enable the Council and the Commission to jointly develop, apply and test enhanced students recruitment, selection and enrolment guidelines and systems suitable for medium to long-term application in all nursing and midwifery schools in Zambia. ACC wishes to express its total commitment to working with the GNC to achieve zero tolerance for corruption in the enrolment of student nurses. Therefore, the ACC values this partnership,” said Wandi. “The enrolment, recruitment and selection guidelines were revised in Livingstone in 2008 at a workshop attended by all principal tutors together with the Anti Corruption Commission officers. The GNC and the ACC agreed to enter into the MoU which we are signing today to guide the successful implementation of the revised guidelines. It is the hope of ACC that other institutions will emulate what the GNC has done and make their systems of recruitment corruption free by putting in place clear and enforceable guidelines that should be well-disseminated and applied.”

And GNC registrar Dr Eleanor Msidi called on all nursing schools to act with integrity and transparency.

“The guidelines were developed to ensure that quality of nursing and midwifery education and training is maintained in all the nursing and midwifery schools and colleges. Therefore we expect all the stakeholders to act with integrity, accountability and openness in the process of selection and recruitment of nursing and midwifery candidates,” said Dr Msidi.

“The signing of this document today by our two institutions marks a new beginning in the way our schools of nursing and midwifery would recruit candidates into training. This will also instill confidence in the members of the public as the process will now be more transparent and accountable than before.”