Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1300177
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 OCTOBER 2020 INTERVIEW with the flu jab directive. This is what everybody seems to be missing out on. They think we woke up one morning, and said: 'That's it – No flu jab!'. But no: we actually started by not taking blood samples in night health-centres, for four weeks. That was our first direc- tive. We didn't 'bring out the big guns', as you put it, straight away. We started with the small things. Another thing is that, accord- ing to industrial law, a union has to give at least two or three days advance notice, before issuing directives. We gave government four whole weeks. And yet, in all that time, there was not even one single meeting. So government could very easily have avoided the flu jab directive, simply by calling us into a meeting. But in- stead, they totally ignored us for four weeks. This is why I was surprised by Chris Fearne's comment: 'Com- mon sense has prevailed'. No, it wasn't common sense at all. 'Common sense' would have been not to allow matters to reach a stage when directives be- came necessary in the first place. It was only when we 'brought out the heavy guns' – I like that expression, by the way – that we suddenly saw 100% compliance. We met the next day, and all our demands were met. So the ques- tion now is: why did it take them so long? What's your own answer to that question? The truth is, I don't know. I never understood why the rest of Malta got their allowances, while the nurses were denied. To be fair, it wasn't Chris Fearne's fault. He was not the one who was blocking our demands. He agreed with us, all the way through. And it wasn't the Prime Minister, either. All I can say is that nurses, in this country, are treated as sec- ond-class workers within the Civil Service. Not just by gov- ernment, or the head of the Civil Service; but also by the people. In the UK, for instance, there was a time when people came out on their balconies, every Thursday, and clapped for the nurses. But the moment the nurses protested outside White- hall, demanding better pay… people stopped clapping. Sud- denly, nurses were no longer 'heroes'. It's the same here, too. The only difference is that we didn't clap as much as they did in the UK… Going back to a point you men- tioned earlier: there is a short- age of trained nurses at the moment; and with the impact of COVID-19, the few nurses we do have are getting exhausted. What is MUMN suggesting to address this problem? At the beginning of this year, we insisted that government should issue a call for TCNs (Third-Country Nationals). Why? Because this year's intake from University was very poor. And to make matters worse, 30 of those newly graduated nurs- es – as is their right, of course – chose to further their studies to become medical doctors. It was clear from the outset, then – even before the pandem- ic – that there was going to be a shortage. So we insisted on a call for TCNs… and the call came out. By March, the situation seemed to be back under con- trol. But then, when COVID-19 broke out… the funding for this call suddenly became a problem. They did not want to employ any more TCNs. But we need those nurses: now, more than ever. In fact, the sit- uation is so serious that we are recalling all former ITU nurses, who have meanwhile moved on to other departments. And this is causing problems in other parts of the health service. Just yesterday, I got a call from the Renal Unit – which is no joke: that is where dialysis takes place; and without it, patients die. Now: in my day (I was re- nal nurse, at the start of my ca- reer), the ratio was one nurse per patient. Until recently, the ratio was one nurse per three pa- tients… which was already seri- ous enough. Today, there are seven va- cancies in the Renal Unit… be- cause nurses are resigning, or leaving the country altogether. They are getting burnt out. And this means that there are not enough nurses to provide dialy- sis treatment: a vital, life-saving procedure. And that's just one example. There are ripple effects throughout the rest of the health service: such as the oncology hospital, for instance. We have more than 30 vacancies in the cancer treatment sector. That's how serious the situation has be- come… Meanwhile, Chris Fearne has (rightly) filled up the corridors of Mater Dei with oxygen points and beds. But he also knows that, if – God forbid – those beds are filled up with patients… there will be no nurses for them. Where are all the nurses going to come from? What about the recruitment drive for TCNs? Government is dragging its feet on that. Out of 265 foreign nurs- es who were available, we man- aged to employ only three. But the way it works in Mal- ta is that, usually, it is not gov- ernment which employs nurs- es from overseas: it is private contractors. What government does, generally, is poach those nurses from the private sector: issuing calls, offering better con- ditions, etc. What is happening now, how- ever, is that private contractors are getting wise to the govern- ment's game; and are making it difficult for government to poach their staff. Meanwhile, we are also facing competition from other countries. In this sense, Identity Malta was not helpful at all. One thing government can't seem to real- ise is that, unlike bigger coun- tries, we don't have the luxury of recalling nurses from other, less-affected parts of the coun- try… like Italy did, by transfer- ring nurses from the south to the north. We can only recruit from other countries… which means that we are in competition with the rest of Europe. Unlike when I started out – when the nursing staff was 100% Maltese – today, 20% are for- eigners. And we rely on them. God forbid they were to leave: because we'd have to close down. But they are leaving. The UK, for instance, is now targeting Malta directly: for instance, by making prospective nurses from 'English-speaking countries' – and let's face it: Malta is the only one – exempt from the language proficiency test. They are also offering citizenship, for both nurses and their families. Here, on the other hand, Iden- tity Malta is making things hard- er, instead of easier. Meanwhile, the Renal Unit is collapsing; the oncology department is collaps- ing… it's an emergency, and something has to be done about it. not prevailed