The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has issued an open letter to Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia in which it thanked nurses for having ensured that 100 operations were carried out in one day, despite the fact that no beds were available and all corridors, all wards, various holding bays and even the paediatric corridor were full of patients.

The union warned the minister, however, that the nurses were not made of steel and excessive pressure could lead to mistakes.

The following is the text of the letter, made available by the MUMN:

"Today the entire nation should be grateful (more than usual) to the nurses working in Mater Dei Hospital. Mater Dei Hospital was overcrowded with patients yet not one operation was cancelled. 100 operations were performed today to patients, with no beds available but were taken straight to the operating theatre and discharged also from the operating theatre.  This was the second time this winter, such a feat was done.

"Special appreciation should go to the nurses working in the operating theatres and to the nurses working in the day surgery unit who worked against all odds in nursing practise. But such a sacrifice was also burdened by all the nurses working in various wards/corridors in MDH, who are working on a daily basis with less than half the actual nursing compliment.

"But Mr. Minister, such nurses are not made of cast iron and excessive pressures could lead to human errors or even mental breakdown to all nurses involved. So MUMN advises that such pressures and excessive workloads are not to continue whenever MDH has no beds available. Nor should nurses be taken for granted and such excessive demands be taken on frequent basis. No Hopkins report or any report would earmark such a feat as not to cancel one operation even though no beds were literally available in the whole hospital.

"Not only were no beds available but all corridors, all wards, various holding bays and even now  the paediatric corridor were full of medical patients. Nurses are doing miracles when the number of nurses is so few to cope with the demands of such a huge number of acutely ill patients. This was today a managerial feat also which people should know about since only negative reports seem to make the news in this country. One has to point out that Mater Dei Hospital without taking the extra beds into consideration is at least 200 nurses short.

"In the name of MUMN council, To all nurses THANK YOU ...we are all proud to have such a work force."