Nurses at Gozo General Hospital has been ordered to work to rule by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses.

The union said it was issuing the directives with immediate effect because of an acute shortage of carers at the hospital for the past year-and-a-half.

In a statement this morning, MUMN said the shortages came about when certain carers were transferred to carry out security guard or other duties without any replacement being found for them.

It said more than 20 carers were needed to fill the existing vacancies.

MUMN said it had been corresponding about this issue for more than a year but no carers were recruited at the hospital, in spite of several promises and in spite of the required funds being allocated to the Health Division by the Gozo Ministry.

The union said it had initially given October 10 as a deadline.

It said that, besides their duties, the nurses have also been doing the work of carers to maintain a decent service to the elderly.

However, the MUMN said, it had now become clear that the elderly patients at Gozo General Hospital were not of a priority to the Health Department.