More nurses will be employed as projected and required for the country especially in view of the increase in beds available for patients and the investment in health projects, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said today.

Replying to a statement by the nurses’ union earlier today appealing to the Prime Minister to intervene with the Finance Minister for the provision of all the necessary funds for the employment of nurses, Dr Mizzi and Mr Fearne said the government was committed to continue to encourage more people to take up the profession while creating new jobs for them.

This was being done because it was crucial for the improvement of care in Malta.

The union said this morning that during a meeting at the Health Department this week it was informed that not all the necessary funds were approved for the employment of recently graduated nurses, nurses who wanted to return to work as well as foreign nurses.

It said it could not understand how the government could announce investments and projects related to the health sector but was not allocating funds for the employment of nurses, who were in short supply.