Call for recruitment of language pathologists

Speech-language pathologists who completed their degree course this year are still waiting for a definite answer from the health authorities with regard to their eventual employment with the government, the Association of Speech-Language Pathologists (ASLP) said yesterday.

The association said the 21 pathologists should be employed at the soonest possible opportunity.

When contacted, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said the Health Division was carrying out an exercise to assess needs.

The association said the graduates should be employed since the country was investing heavily in human and financial resources to train students while getting no return unless they are put in employment. "There is the risk that speech-language pathologists who are not able to practise and apply what they have studied may eventually leave the profession or the country," it said.

The association said understaffing within the public service restricted the present workforce from pursuing further professional development, including Leonardo da Vinci programmes and other postgraduate studies.

It said a 1986 report estimated that between 130 - 150 pathologists were needed to cater for a population similar in size of Malta. The present workforce in the public service is about 45.

"The Association of Speech-Language Pathologists strongly believes that in order to keep up, improve and expand on what the profession has so far achieved, it is imperative that the newly qualified speech-language pathologists be recruited within the public service as soon as possible," it added.