# Nursing in South Africa



## ryanlivio (Nov 6, 2012)

Hi all,

I'm looking for the advice and opinions from South African nationals and expats currently living in South Africa. 

I'm a 22 y/o Australian and I've been wanting to move to South Africa since I was about fifteen. Having Afrikaner friends that have relocated here, I have been made aware of the potential risks involved. But there is also some discrepancies in the information I have been told. Some have said the majority of crime occurs in the townships and Some cities such as Durban. Others have said crime is widespread no matter where you go. I was wondering if someone could clarify this information for me. I was initially thinking Pretoria, Cape Town or Joburg. 

I'm also a Registered Nurse. From what I have discovered from South African nurses I work with there is some kind of reciprocal arrangement because Australia and SA have similar training involved for nurses. The nurses I know had no issue being registered with AHPRA in Australia with their Bachelor Degree from home. However I have no information from and Aussie nurse going to SA. From what I can establish from the SANC, there may be some form of testing involved? 

I've also looked into the healthcare system and it seems to be similar in structure to Australia. Public and Private. Private institutions (obviously) have a better pay package. Does anyone have any experience working in these institutions?

Once again I know there are risks involved but I've always been the type of person to go with what my heart tells me. I've seen Europe, America, Mexico and China. The culture shock does not frighten me, it entices me.

I should probably also point out that I'm gay. So whether or not anyone has any advice regarding acceptance that would be good. My initial hypothesis is that it is much like Australia on this issue, metropolitan areas are fine, the more rural you go, the more issues you are going to have. However marriage has been legalised there, we are still arguing about it here :-/

Any advice is greatly appreciated .


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