The nurses’ union has given the government until tomorrow to transfer six nurses to the Gozo General Hospital.

President Paul Pace said that according to an agreement reached between the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, the Health Division and the Gozo Ministry, 12 of the 17 vacant nurse posts at the hospital have to be filled by the end of this year.

Six of these nurses had to join the hospital staff by June. When the union realised that this part of the agreement had not been adhered to, it gave the health division a 13-day grace period.

But if the transfer is not done by tomorrow, MUMN will order the nurses to carry out only the most essential tasks, including paperwork, without endangering the patients.

Mr Pace said that there are currently 17 vacancies at the General Hospital and some 40 Gozitan nurses in Malta, but no nurse has been sent over during the past nine years.

He said that nurses were doing their utmost, but they are frustrated because of this staff shortage problem. At times, one nurse had to take care of 20 patients, resulting in “a third world service”.

In its reaction, the Gozo Ministry said that while the number of nurses at the hospital will be increased, services and medical care has also been upped and conformed to the standards established in the health sector in Malta.

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