Guest Post: Hundreds Of Nurses In Malta Are Working Irregularly And Live In Fear Of Immigration Laws
A few months ago, when one of my elderly lady friends was in hospital, I got to talking to the same carers every day on the ward.
One particular day, I was a little concerned regarding a situation, and this carer said she thought she knew what it was, but would call a nurse.
The nurse came and explained that it was indeed as the carer thought, and I smiled, telling her naively: ‘you should be a nurse’.”
She replied that she was indeed a nurse in her country, for four years.
As days went on, we would small talk daily and a week or so later we just happened to be sat at the same table for a coffee and her tears started flowing as she showed me pictures of her family ‘back home’.
Her crying was seen by passing colleagues who then joined us, and I realised there was a massive issue here, but everyone was being quite coy.
I had, however, understood that they were all illegal workers and terrified of speaking at work, so I arranged to meet outside of work hours.
Scared of speaking out
At this point I was struggling to keep my frustration under control. How could this happen in our state-run hospitals?
I eventually met other nurses and carers on different occasions over a few weeks and started receiving many messages giving further information on condition of anonymity.
This wasn’t just affecting nurses at Mater Dei, but nurses and carers in many of our residential care homes.
To date, over 40 nurses have come forward to speak to me. These are the brave ones, and they are still very afraid that if they get caught by their agency speaking out, they will be sent home without a penny.
And if there are 40 who have found me, there must be a whole lot more.
It has taken a long time to gain their trust and one or two have found the courage to take a step further. Others have been threatened with being let go without salary when they have made enquiries.
How it works
All of these nurses were hired from India (though I believe there are other nationalities also caught up in this mess) and placed in carer rolls until they have completed their bridging course that cost them between €4,000 to €6,000.
They were then terminated as carers and reemployed as nurses but no application was made for their change of position/job to ID Malta, so in effect they are illegal.
They have no work permits; they have no residency cards yet tax and social security are being deducted from their salary.
They have not seen family since they arrived in Malta because if they leave to visit family they will receive an EU wide ban for being overstayers. Many have been here for at least 18 months without papers.
Six months ago, one of the nurses told me he contacted Health Minister Chris Fearne. He received no reply.
I also contacted the Health Minister and the only reply I got was that HR would look into it
This is not an ID Malta delay on issuing permits, as none have even received the payment link for the application.
I also met with the Indian High Commission trying to find out how this was possible.
No one seems to know anything.
We all have friends, and family members who work in the health profession, so we know how hard and how stressful this work is and they do not need this added stress.
Their only contact with their families is via video calling. Two of them have lost parents and been unable to travel for the funerals. Brothers and sisters have married without these people being there.
I have mentioned this in passing to ID Malta and their jaws dropped: “How is that possible!”
I have also mentioned it again in passing to the Immigration department who just didn’t believe it. “Surely not,” they told me.
Sadly yes, this is fact – and they paid €6,000 to €8,000 to an agent in India to come here.
Every single nurse/carer who has fallen foul of this atrocity should be immediately regularised and issued with their residency documents, and I don’t mean in a month, two or three, I mean within the next week. We can deal with whose fault it is later.
Patricia Graham forms part of EU Nationals Advisory, a voluntary group which provides support and advice freely and without charge for over a decade in Malta.
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Do you think this is a widespread situation for nurses in Malta?