Health minister spared ethics probe over comments about union chief

The commissioner for standards in public life has decided against opening an investigation into an alleged ethical breach by Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela. 

The alleged breach concerns comments made by Abela regarding an industrial dispute between the ministry and the Medical Association of Malta back in January.  

During an interview with RTK 103’s Andrew Azzopardi on January 8, Abela claimed that the reason for the dispute was a personal grudge of outgoing MAM president Martin Balzan, who had not qualified for a promotion at Mater Dei Hospital. 

The minister made the claim after Balzan said during the same radio show that the public sector rules were not being followed during interviews for promotions. 

The complaint to standards commissioner Joseph Azzopardi, which was made by a third party and not by Balzan himself.

It alleged that the minister had failed in his obligation to respect the confidentiality of sensitive information related to Balzan’s application for the role of deputy chairman of the department of medicine at the hospital.  

This, the complainant argued, broke articles 5.2 and 7.10 of the Code Of Ethics for Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries. 

Giving his side of the story to the commissioner during the latter’s preliminary inquiry, Abela confirmed that his comments were in reply to an earlier comment by Balzan.  

During this comment, Abela said that among other things, Balzan had referred to the recent appointment of the aforementioned deputy chairman. 

The minister also cited MAM’s official declaration that outlined the reasons for the industrial dispute. 

“A number of senior management positions within the medical profession have been appointed in which numerous irregularities in the composition of boards, procedures of selection and the conduct of the chairperson of these boards are clearly in violation of the MAM-government collective agreements and formal established government procedure,” the declaration stated. 

This, Abela claimed, referred primarily to Balzan’s application. He argued that his statement did not constitute confidential information because it was well known among those who worked in the health sector. He added that he had an obligation to inform the public about the background of the dispute. 

The minister insisted that all correct procedures were followed with regard to appointments that happened while he was minister, and that he had no involvement in the hiring process. 

Azzopardi ruled that, since the complaint was made by an unrelated third party and not by Balzan himself, he would not be investigating the matter further.

In order to determine whether Abela had breached ethics, he would need to investigate Balzan’s application and how it was processed, which would not be appropriate given that he did not submit the complaint himself, the commissioner said. 

The industrial dispute over the outsourcing of Mater Dei's emergency services to private hospitals was eventually settled after the government promised to provide more career progression opportunities for doctors in hospital emergency wards and polyclinics.