Health Minister Chris Fearne on Thursday said that the government is working to increase more staff at Mater Dei Hospital.
This week, 100 new doctors were employed, and in the coming weeks around 140 nurses will also be recruited, he said when replying to questions following the opening of a new Cardiac Scanner System at the Medical Imaging Department at Mater Dei.
The machine scans the heart, whilst exposing the patient to fewer rays.
Asked by The Malta Independent about the shortage of nurses at Mater Dei, Fearne said that “probably the most important thing is that we need to increase our staff.”
Asked for his response on the MUMN’s industrial action related to nursing shortages, Fearne said that “whilst every union has the right to do what is needed to accommodate the interests of their members, it is illegal for a union to harm a patient with an industrial action.”
Having said that, he stated that “until now it does not seem as if there are instances where the union has put any patient in danger”
Asked whether there are any plans to offer the 2nd dose of the Covid-19 booster vaccination to people under 60, Fearne said that “the recommendation of the ECDC and EMA, which we have been following, is that we should give the 2nd dose of the booster to everyone who is 60 years old or older, and vulnerable people who have low immunity”.
“For now, the ECDC is saying that with the variants that we have and the epidemic that we’re in, it doesn’t seem like there is any benefit to giving the booster to anyone who is under the age of 60. This can change, either if there are new variants, if there are new doses of different vaccines that may be accessible in the next few months, or if the situation throughout Europe changes. Naturally, we follow the suggestions put forward by the ECDC,” he claimed.
Finally, a question was asked about the figures by the ECDC showing that Malta’s COVID-19 death rate is the highest in Europe. How much of an issue is this that the rate has once again spiked?
In response to this, he stated that the most important statistics are the cases in ITU. Currently, there are only two and this number has remained constant since April.
Moreover, he addressed the belief that the rate of positive COVID-19 cases will rise if the number of self-test positive results were recorded.
He stated that this is not true; instead, the rate will actually drop because the people who take the home tests do not usually have a high chance of receiving a positive result. Therefore, if one had to calculate the rate of positive cases of both the self-tests and the government tests, then the rate will be lower.