The health ministry has agreed that certain limitations imposed on foreign nurses need to be lifted if Malta is going to compete with other countries, the nurses’ union president, Paul Pace said.

“The meeting was a positive first step. We can see that the health authorities understand the difficulties third country nationals working in Malta face,” Pace said after a meeting between the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses and the government.

“These are the reasons why they are leaving Malta to work in other countries, like the UK, where conditions are better. We need to compete with these countries.”

A second meeting is planned next week with the Office of the Prime Minister and representatives of Identity Malta, Pace said.

Bureaucracy has been cited as one of the main reasons why 140 nurses have quit or are in the process of quitting

Identity Malta bureaucracy has been cited as one of the main reasons why about 140 nurses, equivalent to over a fifth of the nurses who are third-country nationals working here have either already quit or are in the process of submitting their resignation.

Pace said the union was asking Identity Malta to ease requirements that are making it difficult for such nurses working in Malta to be united with their family or leave the island to visit their loved ones in their home county.

Last month, Times of Malta reported that the country is facing an exodus of foreign nurses – mostly Indian, Pakistani and Filipino – who are being poached by the UK as part of its efforts to control its COVID-19 crisis.

Pace said the union was “very concerned” that the long standing shortage of nurses will worsen. Following the publication of the article, he said over 200 nurses had written to the union, prompting it to write a letter to the prime minister relaying its concerns.

These included problems with residency for spouses of nurses, delays in issuing residence permits as well as demanding and expensive requirements to the annual renewal of work permits.