Cynthia Busuttil
Concern over foreign nurses' language barrier
The nurses' union is worried that employing a large number of foreign nurses could hamper the national health service.
The president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, Paul Pace said the government's plan to recruit up to 300 foreign nurses would mean there would be whole shifts of non-Maltese speakers. "This could lead to problems. Once, a patient was trying to tell a foreign nurse he was suffocating but the nurse could not understand him because the patient was speaking in Maltese," Mr Pace said.
The government last week issued a call for tenders for recruitment agencies to engage foreign nurses in a bid to solve the problem of a shortage of nursing staff. According to Mr Pace, the country needs another 700 nurses and 300 students had to start the nursing course every year to keep up with the demand of increasing services.
Mr Pace said engaging foreign nurses could only be done as a short-term solution to solve the prevailing shortage but was not something that would work in the long term.
He insisted that Malta's health system could afford a small number of foreign nurses but a big group could lead to problems. "I envisage problems of nursing care," he said.
He said about 100 of the 2,400-odd nurses were foreign and an increase in foreign nurses would mean there would be entire shifts without a Maltese-speaking nurse. "There is definitely going to be a language barrier," he said. He continued that the problem could be mostly acute at St Vincent de Paul Residence, where the average age of inmates was 85 and most residents did not speak English.
He also voiced concern that foreign nurses would not have the same level of training and specialisation as their counterparts trained in Malta. Mr Pace argued that the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which reviewed applicants before they were employed, would not know how experienced the nurses were but only how many hours they spent in different departments.
The Health Ministry has said the nurses' professional qualifications were reviewed, assessed and approved before they were employed. It said the council was autonomous and was made up of both academic and clinical experts in the nursing field. Moreover, it liaised with other international regulatory committees, including the European Commission.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
'No need for early election if PM's...
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
8 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Michael Pace
Jun 3rd 2010, 22:29
If anyone wants to come to work in Malta he must learn Maltese. English is quite well for speaking to foreigners. But why should we have to use a foreign language (English IS a foreign language) in going about our day-to-day life?
k.pace
Jun 3rd 2010, 19:21
No this is not a repetition of 1977. The fundamental difference is that the medics have not been forced to leave the country, but there is a shortage. What do all moaners below suggest? How many are ready to chose the medical profession instead of a legal one, for which one has to do the same length of time studying and where financial gain is better? How many are ready to quit their present job and enroll in nursing course? Are you ready to clean after patients? Are you ready to be woken at night to go and check on a patient? Should the state force students to enroll in the medical profession? Stop moaning and doing the armchair critics come up with suggestions if your mind is capable of.
L Fenech
Jun 3rd 2010, 16:32
Jekk ma nizbaljax ga smajtha darba ohra din id-diska!
John Bezzina
Jun 3rd 2010, 15:15
So, GonziPN next Sunday morning will be at Mellieha in one of his Sunday sermons! Alas he would be talking about THE ELDERLY in Malta. Perhaps he will describe how happy he was on Sunday 23rd May when he inaugurated a 'new block' for elderly residents at St.Vincent de Paul Hospital in Luqa. According to T.O.M. he enphasized that although the new block looked more like a five star hotel than a block of wards, its the nursing and caring staff that make the difference.
Now, having read Mr Paul Pace comment on the introduction of foreign nurses at SVP hospital and how detrimental this would be for our elderly relatives there, will GonziPN be honest enough (for once) to unmask the policy that in the very near future, foreign nurses (East European block, Pakistani, Philippinos, etc) will be replacing the Maltese nurses?
Am I to worry although I have no relatives at St.Vincent de Paul hospital !
Michael Neville Cassar
Jun 3rd 2010, 14:03
Do you speak Maltese I have a fissla , can you please stop the hurt . sorry I speak no English .
Jesmond MIcallef
Jun 3rd 2010, 12:09
Please tell me, Ladies and Gentlemen, where on this Earth one finds a profession where COMMUNICATION between people is more paramount ? Evenmoreso when its on local homegrounds. !!
A system of language but also cultural integration on the Maltese islands is urgently needed. The english language is simply destroying everything which is diverse in the first place. Maltese is constitutionally first so priorities here should be in the right order, also.
lgalea
Jun 3rd 2010, 14:14
Agree with you. Maltese must come first because it our NATIONAL language which distinguished us from other nations.
Anna Farrugia
Jun 3rd 2010, 11:52
Of course there would be a language barrier! That's what I wrote yesterday! We should not forget the Doctors' strike in 1977 - what language problems that created! Is this going to be a repeation? Seems like it!