Doctors to return to health centres as MAM pauses directives
Union suspends directives till Friday following progress in talks
Updated 6.30pm
Doctors will provisionally return to all public health centres on Tuesday after their union agreed to postpone directives until Friday.
The decision by the Medical Association of Malta comes as a result of what sources described as a “long and productive” meeting with Health Ministry officials on Monday.
“There are still a few outstanding issues, but enough progress was made to postpone the directives until Friday,” medical sources told Times of Malta.
Sources within the Health Ministry confirmed that directives will be paused.
In a statement on Monday evening, MAM confirmed it would "postpone" the directives to Friday.
"MAM is awaiting a draft text from the government and needs to iron out some details. It will only be able to cancel the directives at that point.
"MAM looks forward to the next meeting so that an agreement that is satisfactory to both sides can be reached," it added.
The MAM and government are locked in an industrial dispute concerning two key issues: a plan to outsource emergency services to three public hospitals and staffing issues within primary healthcare facilities dotted across the country.
Tensions sparked after the government moved ahead to start a €14 million project to have some patients at Mater Dei Hospital’s emergency department referred to private facilities.
The MAM said it was not adequately consulted about that plan and did not have enough assurances about how it would function. It instructed ER doctors to not refer any patients to private hospitals.
As the dispute turned personal and MAM faced internal challenges, directives were extended to health centres, with only centres in Paola, Mosta and Floriana operating with doctors around the clock.
Services in health centres in Gżira, Cospicua, Kirkop, Birkirkara and Qormi were impacted as a result.
The nurses’ union, MUMN, stepped in and instructed its members to attend to patients at centres affected by the dispute, with the three private hospitals involved in the outsourcing deal also taking in public patients.