The recruitment process for the first groups of foreign nurses should be concluded by the end of this month, according to the Director General for Health Services.

Some 46 Pakistani nurses are expected to start work in the coming weeks, the Health Ministry said, while about 200 other foreign nurses who applied to work in the public health sector between January and August are being scrutinised.

About 50 Maltese applicants have already started working following the same call for applications.

State hospitals are suffering from a serious nursing shortage and are estimated to need some 500 to 700 nurses to relieve the burden on current staff.

“It is expected that the public recruitment procedure for the first groups of foreign nurses will be concluded by the end of September,” Director General for Health Services John Cachia said.

Work was already under way to obtain work permits and visa clearance for the nurses, and once that process is finalised, the chosen nurses would be invited to come over and start offering services to patients.

“That includes tackling vacancies in wards, strengthening reliever pools and the development of new services,” Dr Cachia said.

Health Minister Joe Cassar had described the recruitment process as a lengthy one, due to applicants being scrutinised by an autonomous nursing council. The council said it was committed to providing the best service possible by vetting candidates’ qualifications while making sure the nurses were able to communicate without any problems.

The majority of the 250 foreign applications were submitted mainly by non EU-nationals, a ministry spokesman said. The nurses’ council received 300 applications between January and August, which included 50 applications from local nurses, after the government issued a call which will remain open until 2011, for nurses of any nationality to apply for the job.

The nurses’ shortage problem has been at the forefront lately as it triggered industrial action by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses.

The union is alleging that foreign nurses will only solve the staff shortage problem in the short term, and the government should be looking into more long term solutions, like doing away with the numerus clausus at university for nursing courses.