Updated with ministry statement 5.10pm.

The Health Ministry on Monday afternoon denied that the capping of pensions for doctors and medical consultants had been lifted.

It issued a statement in reaction to concerns voiced by the Malta Employers' Association that the removal of such capping set a dangerous precedent and  could destabilise industrial relations and raise public expenditure to unsustainable levels.

The MEA had in turn been reacting to industrial acton ordered by the nurses' union, which insisted that its members' pensions should also be uncapped 'like consultants'.

Later in the morning, the head of the doctors' union, Martin Balzan, said  "doctors have capped pensions like all other government employees." 

The health ministry said the pensions of doctors and consultants were capped in terms of the Social Security Act, chapter 318.

In parliament, shortly before the government's statement, the minister responsible for pensions, Michael Falzon, was vague when asked about the situation by Nationalist MP Ivan Castillo.

Falzon said that while there was no pensions cap for some categories, he could not immediately list which they were and he was not informed of any talks on the further removal of such capping.