Even though the MUMN President, Paul Pace warned that the foreign workers that this Socialist Government is bringing over to Malta are hardly capable of communicating with their patients, Minister Chris Fearne said that he was happy with them at the hospital.
Minister Fearne admitted that “there foreign and local doctors, pharmacists, paramedics and nurses”.
During an interview on Net Live, Paul Pace said that the greatest challenge they are facing as a result of so many foreign workers, the majority of whom are of Indian and Pakistani origin, is their inability to communicate with the elderly.
Pace also said “English is not their first language and our culture is entirely different to theirs”.
The Government is however cornered and has no option but to continue bringing over more foreign workers to Malta.
Paul Pace also said that the health sector is again suffering from a massive shortage of nurses: “The shortage has now shot up to between 500 – 600 nurses, which is shocking.
Pace went on to explain how there isn’t a single ward at Mater Dei which is suitably staffed with enough nurses. Evidently, particularly in the last few years, the majority of those being employed in the health sector are not Maltese.
In the last five years, the number of nurses increased by 500, however the Minister refrained from confirming how many of them are foreigners. He only said that foreign workers amount to 8% – 9% of all workers employed in health care.
How many of the 500 nurses are foreign? We asked Minister Fearne who only said that “foreign workers come from a number of different countries, and we thank them for their great work”. When pressured, Fearne did say that “I can tell you there are between 8% – 9% of our staff are foreign. I am happy that foreigners are coming to Malta to work in the health sector.”
However the figures quoted by the Minister are a far cry from reality. Whilst he said that all foreigners amount to only 8% – 9%, Paul Pace said that Pakistani and Indians alone make up about 15% – 20%, so the total number of foreigners are significantly more.
Net News is informed that at certain wards at Mount Carmel Hospital, a number of Maltese nurses employed by a sub-contractor, were pushed aside to make way for Pakistani and Indian nurses.
