“It came as news to me that I was made president because we were still meeting up to discuss who would fill the top posts of the union’s council,” said Maria Cutajar.
She also said that a news story in The Times which gave a figure for the number of votes she garnered was incorrect. “Paul Pace and I, along with secretary general Colin Galea, all garnered more votes than what was stated on The Times Online.
Ms Cutajar was replying to questions by The Malta Independent as to whether the leak may have been done to get former President Paul Pace out of the way.
But the issue which surprised her most was the fact that Paul Pace – who until Saturday morning was still president of the union - placed eighth in the election when he had served as president for eight years.
Mr Pace resigned his post following the report which appeared in the media before a planned meeting was held at the premises of the union between the elected councils. Mr Pace claimed the information tied to his placing was leaked in a bid to drive him to resign.
The MUMN’s statute stipulates that candidates who are elected for the union’s council must meet a day later to assign the roles within the council. The posts are determined the day after the election results are out (within 24 hours) where a free-vote is taken by the elected councillors, irrelevant whether an elected candidate places first or tenth in the election.
“We met as planned at the MUMN premises. After being nominated for the post of President, I asked for vote of confidence from the rest of the elected members present to determine whether all the new council members were comfortable working with me.
“A free-vote was taken and I was officially elected,” she said, highlighting that both the election and the free-vote the next day were transparent from beginning to end.
All contestants were present during the vote counting process, she added.
She emphasised: “I have always maintained a good working relationship with Paul and worked for years together.”
Cutajar joined MUMN in 1998
Ms Cutajar, who joined the MUMN as a committee group member back in 1998, and served as vice-president as well over the years, worked as a midwife but also specialised in the care of children and worked at the intensive unit for children, known as SCBU.
But during the last two years, she had to abandon her profession “since I could not cope with the union’s commitments as well as my profession”. She said that she spent a number of years working night shifts as a midwife in order to cope with her work-related commitments.
When asked if she feels that candidates who are midwives have a lesser chance of being elected, since there are 3,200 nurses opposed to only 150 midwives, she said that she has been an active union participant for a good number of years.
Cutajar vows to be loyal towards her members
Questioned whether she would put her political beliefs aside and work in the interest of her members, she said: “I will be loyal to my members whichever government is in power. I worked with both administrations as a union member and I certainly have no ties with any political party whatsoever.
“In fact, our union has an ideology, that of holding no ties with any political party and I intend on sticking to that,” she said.
Certain practices within the Health Department have become the norm
Speaking about the shortage of nurses, Ms Cutajar said that whether or not directives are issued, some problems are hard to solve.
For instance, she explained that past practices are still rampant to this day and have become the norm.
“At times, after exhausting all options, we are left with no choice but to issue directives, some of which are cut short due to circumstances which may arise,” she said.
Staff burn-out
As a result of a shortage of nurses, Ms Cutajar said that she is concerned that nurses are suffering from burnout. She said this concerns her both because nurses are being pushed to the limit and over the fact that there’s the health of patients at stake. She said the findings of local scientific evidence prove this point.
Foreign nurses and the language barrier
When asked if she welcomes the fact that the government announced a €200 million Public-Private Partnership health plan and whether foreign nurses would have to be employed in Malta to fill the forecast 1,200 new jobs, she said that Malta already employs foreign nurses.
“It is vital nurses are brought over to Malta to work, as long as they are qualified, to help safeguard the existing services or new ones, however, my main preoccupation is the language barrier,” Ms Cutajar said.
In an exclusive interview with The Malta independent on Sunday, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi revealed that a nursing school would be identified and asked to set up shop in Malta.
When interviewed a couple of days later, Mr Pace stated that he had identified, along with the government, a University in Newcastle - Northumbria University - which had showed interest in opening a school here.
While confirming that it was Mr Pace who did help identify the school, she said that it could be the case that other schools may be identified in future other than the one linked to this university. She emphasised that the school would be based on tertiary level learning.
She said that she would be meeting the health minister next week for the first time as president of the MUMN.
University of Malta should start considering Mcast diplomas
Making it amply clear that the University of Malta should stick to ensuring nurses who undergo midwifery or nursing courses have the proper requisites to practice, Ms Cutajar suggested that it should consider diplomas sat for by students at Mcast as one of its requisites. This, she said, in a bid to ensure nursing staffing levels are enhanced.
“The University has its limitations and only two courses a year are held, which only sees an average 150 students a year complete their nursing-related studies successfully.
“In the past, back in 1992, students used to have three pathways, one of which was sitting for a prevocational intermediary course but this no longer exists,” Ms Cutajar lamented.