Twenty-four newly-warranted doctors have been deployed to testing and contact tracing centres to help alleviate pressure brought about by a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.
The junior doctors, who were only recently granted their medical warrant, were in the process of getting promotions that would see them focus on their specialised areas.
As they were due to start working in their new roles in three weeks’ time, it was decided they would help at the contact tracing and swabbing centres until then. The doctors’ union has not opposed the decision.
In recent weeks, the centres have been inundated with work as the number of new COVID-19 cases spiked. As a result, two new testing centres will be opened in the coming days after a waiting list system had to be introduced to deal with backlogs.
It came after Martina Agius, a podiatrist working at the Luqa swabbing hub in addition to her regular duties, spoke out this week about the deteriorating working conditions at testing centres.
She said workers were understaffed, unmotivated, missing payments and dealing with an increasing shortage in personal protection equipment (PPE).
Hours after she spoke out on Monday, Prime Minister Robert Abela uploaded a Facebook post saying he had made a surprise visit to the testing centre in Luqa to personally thank the workers and check on their conditions. On Wednesday he visited the testing centre in Pembroke.
Agius told Times of Malta that the prime minister had promised workers manning the COVID-19 testing stations that they will be paid for the long hours they are working.
“He told me: Don’t worry. Leave it up to me. I give you my word that everything will be seen to,” she said, adding: “Things will be resolved once his words are put to action.”
A second healthcare worker, who preferred not to be named, said that over the past weeks the health authorities were struggling to find people willing to man the testing centres with low numbers signing up for calls for expression of interest.
Malta currently has COVID-19 testing centres in Luqa, Pembroke, Mater Dei Hospital and Gozo.
Together, those centres can carry out up to around 2,000 tests a day. Another two centres in Qormi and Burmarrad will soon be opening.