Updated: MUMN takes credit for increased nurses recruitment
Government says MUMN's vision reflects its own.
The MUMN said today that it was only through its efforts that 193 nurses were graduating and joining the government medical service in the coming weeks, even though the government was not acknowledging its efforts.
Union president Paul Pace told a press conference that it was the union which had insisted, more than three years ago, that the numerus clausus on the nursing courses should be removed. Prior to that, the output from the nursing courses was of 60 per year.
Despite the intake of 193, Mr Pace said this amounted to only a quarter of the intake needed for the necessary number of nurses to be reached.
He pointed out that the the health service lost between 75 and 100 nurses a year for various reasons including retirement and maternity. At the same time, demands on the service were rising - and they would continue to rise as the population got older.
Mr Pace complained that the government was not doing enough to meet a surge in the number of elderly people in the coming years - such as providing more beds and staff in retirement home.
He said the MUMN was also calling for more career progression opportunities for nurses and for long-vacant posts to be filled in the shortest possible time.
But the government in a statement said that what the MUMN was saying reflected its vision for the health sector.
This was so much so that the government invested in research to scientifically study the demographic and sociological situation of the Maltese population, which studies were used in the planning of health services.
Several professionals, including nurses, were at the centre of such planning which had also led to the creation of a task force, which, the MUMN did not form part of, as yet.