Patients treated in corridors all year round – MUMN

Patients at Mater Dei Hospital are being treated in corridors “all year round”, the nurses’ union has charged, with corridors being given names “as a cover up”. 

“The situation of treating patients in corridors in Mater Dei is now all year-round while at Mount Carmel Hospital there are daily cases of patients being provided a bed in the evening.

“In the Gozo General Hospital, beds in the corridor do occasionally exist but are limited due to union directives,” Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) president Paul Pace said. He made the comments in a statement marking International Nurses’ Day, celebrated on Sunday.

Mr Pace insisted in the statement that the recent years’ drastic increase in population “is not helping at all”, arguing that it would be unwise for the government to consider that the three hospitals have “sufficient beds to cater for the needs of the population”.

“Is investment in additional beds being made in these three hospitals? The reply is a big ‘no’. Mater Dei corridors are given names to cover up this situation, while Mount Carmel is literally falling to pieces due to poor investment over the years,” he said.

“The Gozo hospital is barely coping with...