Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1467437
NEWS 5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 MAY 2022 38-year-old worker dies at Marsa incinerator LUKE VELLA A worker identified as 38-year-old Joseph Ellul lost his life at the Marsa incinerator facility on Tuesday. Police have confirmed that the man from Marsaxlokk died on site and investigations are ongoing to establish the dynamics that led to his death. The police said that it was called in at 9am at the incinerator because a man had suffered injuries while working there. "A medical team from Mater Dei Hospital was on site but unfortunately the 38-year-old Marsaxlokk resident was certified dead on site," the police said in a statement. Magistrate Elaine Mercieca is leading an inquiry into the case. The incinerator is operated by Wasteserv, the state waste processing agency, and is used to dispose of clinical and abattoir waste. Meanwhile, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) is investigating the incident. "OHSA immediately started its investigations into the cause of this ac- cident," the authority said. The OHSA investigation is ongoing. Joseph Ellul LUKE VELLA THE Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) said that poor working conditions were leading to an "exodus" of nurs- es and midwives, with many abandoning the profession and choosing alternative careers. On the occasion of the In- ternational Day of Nurses and Midwives, MUMN said the government was not properly addressing the shortage of pro- fessionals in the sector. MUMN President Paul Pace said many nurses were choos- ing to either become doctors, get into the iGaming sector or work outside of the country. He said the national health service of the UK was also "poaching" Maltese nurses due to their flu- ency in the English language. "There is a shortage of 600 nurses in this country, which was never tackled by the gov- ernment. The solution offered by the Health Ministry was to issue a call for third country nationals and poach them from the private sector," Pace said. He claimed that the nurses' shortage at the public hospi- tals meant that certain wards were operating with one or two nurses per ward instead of four. Pace added that certain wards could not be opened at Mater Dei and that an average of 150 beds at St Vincent De Paul were not being utilised. He said that the working week of nurses was of 46 hours and that in order for a nurse to take vacation leave, one had to get a colleague working overtime to cover for him/her. MUMN proposed that stu- dent nurses receive a minimum wage instead of a stipend and then commit themselves to three years' work in the public service, in a bid to attract more youths to the profession. Pace said the union made proposals to the government that focused on attracting back the nurses that had left the job. MUMN General Secretary Colin Galea said the govern- ment was showing a lack of courage in addressing the is- sue. He said that the union decided to hold the annual conference at their premises instead of the Health Ministry for the first time. "Last year we launched a mental health wellbeing pro- gramme. We did our part but the government didn't and it seems like it doesn't care. It is useless making promises prior to the election and then never deliver," Galea said. Galea and Pace touched up- on the case involving Joseph Pace, the nurse manager who is potentially facing a prison sentence over a 2017 incident where a patient harmed him- self. The patient in Mount Carmel Hospital had been or- dered by doctors to have Level 1 supervision but due to short- ages, staff were unable to inter- vene and assist a patient from self-harming. "It hurts that we are then sometimes treated as crimi- nals. We might come across as vociferous as we are not appre- ciated despite all that we do. Nurses and midwives are the once that run the hospitals, they are they backbone of every service," Pace said. Galea said that the case was mishandled to the point that the police inspector had called up the nurse to identify the patient at the morgue, even though he had survived. He questioned why the magistrate had not called up the nurse pri- or to the police interrogations. Poor conditions of work leading to an 'exodus' of nurses and midwives MUMN President Paul Pace and MUMN Vice President Alexander Manche (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)