Paul Pace President of the MUMN, said in a statement this morning that the Union recently issued an appeal to the Health Division to address the precarious situation in Gozo General Hospital (GGH), as several beds are being occupied by elderly patients or social patients, leaving no beds for acutely ill patients or surgical patients.

Sine then, the situation has now gone from bad to worse, Paul Pace said. “The four female patients who were placed in the Male General Ward have actually increased to eight female patients. This increase of female social cases in the Male General Ward led to various cancellations of operations not only in the female wards but now also in the male wards since beds for surgical and orthopaedic operations are no longer available.”

MUMN had been constrained to issue directives to stop elective surgery in the Female General Ward “since the management of GGH did not issue any instructions and directions to the nurses working on the wards who are facing the overcrowding situation which developed in their wards,” the MUMN said.

Paul Pace stated that the Gozo General Hospital “will soon not be in a position to allow admissions for people suffering with respiratory infections which are very common during winter months if such crisis is allowed to persist.”

According to the MUMN it said that, “although the situation is desperate, the top official of GGH is hardly seen in the wards of the hospital to address the transfer of social cases from the Male and Female General Wards.”

Since the Health Division has not addressed the issue of social cases in the Gozo General Hospital, MUMN said that it now appeals to the Health Minister Dr. Konrad Mizzi “to act urgently in the interest of the population of Gozo and take the matter into his hands.”

“If this situation is allowed to continue to prevail and the Health Division continues to abdicate from taking action to address the situation in GGH, the health and safety of the patients in GGH will be at stake,” the Union said.

Paul Pace concluded by saying that the MUMN “will continue to strive to achieve an acceptable working environment so that the nurses would be in a position to give an acceptable service to their patients.”

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