The university has refused a number of applications from young people wanting to take up a course in nursing, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said.

It said in a statement it could not understand why this was done when the whole country was conscious of the shortage of nurses, which was affecting health services.

Those refused were told that the 140 limit for the course had been reached. But the MUMN said that 165 were accepted last year and an effort should have been made for more than this number to be accepted.

It said that in its campaign some months ago to encourage more young people to take up nursing, it was already conscious that a substantial interest would be shown and it wrote to the Prime Minister proposing the setting up of a task force for the necessary arrangements to be made to accept all applications from people having the necessary qualifications.

The MUMN said it believed that with a collective effort all obstacles hindering youths from choosing a career in nursing could be overcome. The solution should not just be foreign nurses. The Maltese preferred Maltese nurses, especially if they were elderly and they only understood Maltese.

The MUMN call on the young people and their families who had problems with their application to contact it on 7903 3033 or 7942 5718, e-mail: mumn@maltanet.net .