607 new foreign workers were employed by the health sector from 2018 to 2023, data tabled in Parliament on Wednesday showed.

Nationalist Party MP Ian Vassallo asked Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela how many new workers of foreign nationality were engaged with the health sector from the years 2018 to 2023.

Minister Abela said that 60 new foreign workers were employed during the year 2018, 124 new workers in 2019, 77 new workers in 2020, 154 new workers in 2021, 119 new workers in 2022, and 73 new workers in 2023, totalling up to 607 new foreign workers across the stipulated years.

Concerns have been ongoing in the health sector with regards to the shortage of nurses, especially after it was revealed that just 83 individuals graduated from the University of Malta’s nursing courses in the last scholastic year, a record low for the university.

Prime Minister Robert Abela had told The Malta Independent that the increases in the collective agreement for nurses and midwives were enacted as a result of this shortage being identified by the government, and that part of the aim was to attract more students to the nursing courses by incentivising them.