An alternative site is being sought so that patients waiting for a bed at Mater Dei Hospital would no longer crowd the Emergency Ward, the Emergency Nurses union said this afternoon.

It said it had discussed the current situation with Health Minister Joseph Cassar.

The union pointed out that corridors at the Emergency Ward were being blocked by patients on stretchers waiting for a hospital bed.

It said it was promised that beds in state hospitals were to be increased by 150 this year, 50 of them by the end of February.

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