Minister to meet nurses' union

A meeting is to be held this morning between Health Minister Louis Deguara and representatives of the Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives over the burning issue of the employment of nurses.

The meeting was the result of contacts yesterday between the Office of the Prime Minister, the Health Division and the union.

MUMN president Rudolph Cini and its general secretary Colin Galea are expecting to discuss the issue of the employment of newly qualified nurses to fill nursing vacancies, as well as the dire situation at St Luke's Hospital's medical wards.

Mr Galea, however, reiterated that the union still planned to stage a protest outside Auberge de Castille, in Valletta, tomorrow if the issues were not resolved.

Whether it would be held depended on the outcome of the meeting, Mr Galea said, adding that it would only be called off if the meeting was "positive" - meaning nothing short of a decision on the part of the government to employ the nurses.

The union has been requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the dispute over the employment of nurses who have just completed their studies. The union has been informed that the Prime Minister, currently on a private visit in England, is willing to meet its officials when he returns next week. However, the union is also being urged to deal directly with the Health Ministry.

The government has decided to employ nurses within the public sector only depending on exigencies and not according to the number of those who graduate successfully.

At the moment the health division is examining the situation to determine how many new nurses should be employed and where they are needed. It is possible that all student nurses successfully completing their studies will be taken up this time round but the government is being careful not to set precedents and not to be seen to be accepting practices that could make the health service unsustainable.

The union is insisting that all graduating nurses should be employed in order to ease the burden on nurses working in the eight over-crowded medical wards at St Luke's Hospital.

The number of vacancies in state hospitals had been determined and the number of nurses who graduated this year was not enough to fill them all, the MUMN says.

It ordered industrial action at St Luke's on Saturday when about 40 nurses walked out on strike between 9.30 - 11.30 a.m. to protest against the deteriorating situation in the wards.