Around 2,500 nurses will be convening in Malta for an international conference in 2011, the Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives (MUMN) said yesterday.

The MUMN said its application to host the biennial conference was accepted by the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The union said Portugal, Poland, Uganda and Ghana had also bid for the 2011 event.

The union said that hosting the event would be a great honour for Malta and would give Maltese nurses the opportunity to meet their peers and some of the leading practitioners of the profession.

It would also boost the local economy, the union said.

The MUMN called on the government to keep its promise to do everything it can to facilitate the organisation of the conference.

At a press conference yesterday, the MUMN took the opportunity to criticise the government for ignoring the plight of Maltese nurses and the problems facing the profession.

The next two conferences will be held in Japan (2007) and in South Africa in 2009.