Updated 7.26pm: adds Health Minister's comments

Doctors have suspended a strike scheduled for Friday after their union representatives struck a last-minute agreement with the Health Ministry.

Announcing the deal in a Facebook post on Thursday evening, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said “common sense won for the sake of the ill.”

Medical Union of Malta leaders will be presenting the provisional deal to their members in the coming days. 

The deal is understood to cover multiple outstanding issues, ranging from qualms over an arrangement to outsource Mater Dei patients to private hospitals, issues at Mater Dei's emergency department and staffing concerns at health centres. 

Health Ministry sources confirmed that a deal was reached following a marathon meeting on Thursday. 

In a statement issued Thursday evening, the minister hailed the agreement a "victory and a very important step for the sick, which should lead to more efficiency and less delay in the administration of healthcare."

When contacted, MAM president Martin Balzan said he was satisfied that the matter had been resolved through dialogue. 

"If approved by our members, we trust this deal will benefit both patients and doctors," he said. 

Last week, the union had announced directives that ordered its members not to transfer patients to private hospitals.

These directives were called after the government announced a partnership with three private hospitals that will see the outsourcing of emergency services. The union said that it had not been consulted over the matter.

Balzan thanked Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela, ministry staff and representatives of the Industrial Relations Unit for their work. 

Both sides declined to discuss specifics of the agreement.