Ministry denies link with Pakistani nurses’ ‘agent’

The Health Ministry said it had no connection with the “agent” that is being investigated for exploiting a group of Pakistani nurses working at Mater Dei Hospital.

In reply to questions from The Times, the ministry also said the investigation would not hinder the employment of other nurses who applied in the same call and were still waiting to join the public health service.

Late last month, this newspaper revealed that the first group of nurses employed to plug staff shortages were allegedly being exploited by a company that was demanding a fee from their salary.

The “agent”, who purported to act as a conduit between the nurses and the hospital, expected each nurse to pay him as much as €3,000 in management fees while employed in Malta.

However, according to the Health Ministry, the nurses applied in their own capacity through an open public call issued on February 2, 2010.

“There is no contractual agreement between the government and any agency,” it said.

The whole employment process for the 47 nurses, including the selection process by Skype interview and the granting of an employment licence and visa, was in order, the ministry said.

According to the contract of one nurse seen by The Times, the company had assumed the role of representing the nurses. Its duties were to “coordinate, collaborate, hold meetings, pay all fees and expenses, registering, filling in and evaluating forms and applications relating to the procurement of employment for the nurse”.

One of the Pakistani nurses had said that, some 18 months ago, a co-national had called from Malta to inform him the government was recruiting international health care staff and that he was the channel they had to go through.

This man allegedly told the nurses working at Liquat National Hospital to send him all the documentation, which he would eventually pass on to the medical council, which had to verify the qualifications with its Pakistani counterpart.

However, the ministry said there was no way it could know what was going on in Pakistan.

The 47 nurses were part of a drive by the government to recruit 300 nurses in view of staff shortages.

The alleged exploitation of this group would not affect the employment of the rest, the ministry said.

“Our obligation is towards those individuals in their personal capacity as professional nurses who sought employment with the ministry, not to mention the patients who really need staff to care for them,” it said.