Nurses union likes ‘health village’ plans, but students ‘concerned’

On Saturday, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said that Malta’s growing population has led to the need of a second national hospital.

St Luke’s Hospital and the adjacent Karin Grech Hospital in Gwardamanġa were best placed to step up to the role, he said in an interview with Andrew Azzopardi.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said that hearing of plans to open new wards in Mater Dei Hospital and utilise the Karin Grech and St. Luke’s hospitals was of great relief.

“Such capital projects can be launched with the private sector like the new Elderly Hospital which was built in SVP [St Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility] which was a success story”, it added.

The union said it has long been calling for new wards at Mater Dei, underlining that it was unacceptable to have patients and nurses placed in corridors.

Medical students ‘concerned’

The Malta Medical Students’ Association has expressed its concerns over the possible shifting of the medical school from Mater Dei to Gwardamanġa.

It said that students had been falsely promised a new medical school by the end of 2022, which to date has not materialised.

“We were promised a ‘state-of-the-art’ medical school comparable to the private Queen Mary University of London’s medical school in Gozo and faced with vague plans and endless delays. As it stands, no updates have been given”, the association said on Sunday.

The current medical school lacked indoor study spaces, lecture rooms, medical simulation rooms and general communal areas.

While agreeing with the idea to increase space for clinical use at Mater Dei, the association said this should not come at a cost to healthcare professional’s education.