MUMN condemns irresponsible attitude on nursing students

MUMN is very disappointed on how the nursing students are being treated by the University of Malta.

The first and second year nursing students, who as part of their studies are currently conducting clinical placements, received an email stating any placement hours carried out throughout the month of June will not be taken into account regarding payment.

This issue is unsettling for these students as a substantial amount of placement hours had already been carried out throughout the month, as part of the normal completion of their studies. The students that are affected by this decision include both nursing students that are studying to obtain their Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Nursing.

This information was only given to these students on the last day of the placement period and therefore students were left in a state of panic as they were not informed about the appropriate division of hours between June and July.

It is important to note that for the past years, these hours were paid for by the Department of Health in full for both months mentioned and for both courses.

The implications of these problems are indeed quite severe. The future of the nursing courses must be considered a priority. Government, together with the University of Malta and MUMN, has been trying to increase the number of people choosing the nursing courses by offering incentives to prospective students, such as the higher monthly stipend. This situation, if allowed to continue, will act as a heavy disincentive to any students considering following any of the aforementioned courses.

MUMN cannot accept this situation and will do what is required for these nursing students to get what they deserve. This is a form of precarious attitude and abuse on the nursing students.

MUMN appeals to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health to defend these students and come up with a sensible solution for these students to get paid for what they worked for as was done in previous years.

We are all striving to attract more youths to the nursing profession and these decisions would surely not help our campaign.