Nurses Union Warn Mater Dei ‘In Crisis’ Despite Easing Of Malta’s COVID-19 Restrictions
Malta’s Union for Nurses and Midwives (MUMN) sounded the alarm on the ‘severe state’ of Mater Dei Hospital as COVID-19 positive patients are ‘spread in all wards’.
The union issued a press release hours after Health Minister Chris Fearne announced more reductions in Malta’s pandemic measures despite cases increasing by the day.
“Contrary to what has been stated by the Health Minister, MDH is in severe crisis with COVID-19 patients being spread in all wards,” they wrote.
“MUMN received more than 20 calls from nursing staff in the last few hours due to shortage of nurses and the huge influx of COVID-19 cases in the hospital,” they added, stating that Mater Dei Hospital has more than 150 patients testing positive for the virus, spread across wards.
The situation, they insist, poses a high risk of cross-infection to patients receiving care in the hospital.
A severe shortage of nursing staff has worsened the situation, with the remaining staff often left scrambling to keep up their duties. So much so, that the Union was left with no choice but to issue directives during the weekend to reduce burnout among nurses.
“The situation is desperate and the Ministry For Health is refusing to reduce elective surgeries to compensate for the huge influx of COVID-19 cases and the high shortage of nurses in the wards.”
Together, they appealed to the Ministry For Health to reduce non-essential surgeries and ‘start acting responsibly’ in the wake of additional cases hitting Malta’s government hospital.
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