The International Nurses Day serves as a great reminder of the importance of recruiting more nurses, and to take care of their mental wellbeing, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne said.

In light of the pandemic, when frontliners have been facing Covid-19 day-in day-out, the Minister announced that mental wellbeing support workshops will be introduced for nurses in order to address their mental burden and burnout that the frontliners have suffered.

“Today I can announce that together with the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), we will organise mental wellbeing support workshops for nurses, and they will be extended to other cohorts,” the minister said.

Fearne said that these past few months have showed just how much frontliners are essential to the country and the world.

“This is a day where we recognise the work that they have committed, and to encourage more people to enter this field of work,” Fearne said.

The minister said that Malta has around 3,300 nurses and midwives, however, this sector always needs more helping hands. “It doesn’t mean that we don’t need more. Actually, we are making an appeal to get more people working in this field,” Fearne remarked.

In 2020, 216 new nurses and 11 midwives were recruited, the Minister noted. In 2021, 139 nurses and 8 midwives have been recruited, and until the end of the year, the ministry is aiming to have around 150 to 200 more nurses, totalling to more than 300 new nurses this year.

The minister also said that the Ministry, together with the MUMN, are encouraging more mental health nursing. “It is not without its challenges, but it gives satisfaction, and it is of utmost importance.”

MUMN president Paul Pace said that he was happy with the measures and the low number of cases that the country finds itself with. “Today, with the measures we have in place and the vaccinations, a great response can be seen, and the health division is working almost normally.”

Pace remarked that a lot more work needs to be done to ensure that Malta wouldn’t need third country nationals to fill in the vacancies, but would be “self-sufficient”.

He remarked that more competitive work conditions should be in place so that more people are encouraged to join these careers, as “poaching” of nurses can happen, reducing the amount of frontliners that Malta has.

The MUMN president echoed what the Minister said regarding the burnout of frontliners and the mental health program being introduced.

“I am happy that there is this agreement with the ministry and us regarding mental health wellbeing of frontliners. We had an agreement at once,” he said.

“Unfortunately, stress and burnout on us and our families was big, so this was an important agreement.”