Malta needs at least 400 extra nurses to be able to cope with the current level of public health services, according to Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.

The country was producing about 150 new nurses a year but this was not enough to staff the services being offered in public hospitals, Dr Mizzi said during a joint press conference with the nurses’ union on a new recruitment drive.

He announced a new international recruitment call would soon be issued to make sure the island would have the numbers it needed. The government would seek to employ nurses from both EU and non-EU countries.

The recruitment of foreign nurses would be a temporary measure but he pointed out that, according to EU rules, the island could not discriminate against European nurses who wanted to work in Malta.

Flanked by Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne and the president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses Paul Pace, Dr Mizzi said the government was working on a manpower plan for the health services. It needed to know what the future needs would be in terms of human resources.

He said discussions were also being held with the Finance Ministry to secure additional funding for the employment of new nurses.

Dr Mizzi listed the priorities for the health sector: a reduction in waiting lists for operations, shorter waiting times at the emergency department, the provision of more free medicines on time and reducing bed shortages.

Mr Pace said it was important the government recognised there was a shortage of staff in the health sector and promised his union would collaborate in trying to find solutions.

About 3,200 nurses were currently employed in the public health sector but more youngsters needed to enter the caring professions, he said. Among them were 200 foreign nurses. The union was ready to accept more of them if they were recruited on a temporary basis until more local staff were prepared to take over.

The only reason Malta was finding foreign nurses to employ was the ongoing recession in the EU, as otherwise salaries were much higher in other European countries, he said.

“No one would come here if there were other jobs available in Europe.”

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said the government wanted to tackle the problem of high stress levels among the nurses and would be giving its staff the necessary support.