The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses has called for the building of a new 500-bed hospital to solve the overcrowding problem at Mater Dei.

In election proposals to the political parties, unveiled this morning, the union said hospital overcrowding, with many being treated in the hospital's corridors at Emergency, needed to be urgently tackled.

Union president Paul Pace said the union was also calling for better planning of patients' outpatients appointments with consultants and other action to reduce waiting time. It needs be, consultants should have a minimum number of patients which they would be required to see every day, he said, and there should be better monitoring of their working hours.

He insisted that protocols and guidelines needed to be respected by all, and if needs be such protocols should become law. 

He said hospital patients should be entitled to two medical opinions and an independent committee should be set up to consider patients' complaints.

He also insisted that it should be the hospital administration, not the surgeons, who handled waiting lists for operations. 

In other points, the union called for reform of primary health care and of the procurement of medicines, with contracts for each medicine being awarded to two suppliers, not one, in order to avoid shortages. 

A call was also made for updating of Mt Carmel Hospital and Gozo hospitals and for better community care for elderly people.