The state hospital has asked the private sector to help sterilise soiled surgical instruments in order to avoid postponing scheduled operations because of industrial action, according to Mater Dei Hospital’s chief executive Celia Falzon.

On Thursday, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses issued directives that would stop technicians from decontaminating and sterilising medical instruments used during operations and packaging them for upcoming surgeries.

The directives do not impact emergency surgeries but they have put pressure on the hospital administration to ensure that sterilised instrument kits, which cover all possible emergencies, are available, Falzon said.

So far, no scheduled operations have had to be postponed because sterilised instruments are still available. However, this may have to change unless a solution is found before the clean tools run out.

Falzon said on Thursday, the day the industrial action started, the soiled medical instruments of the day were sent to the Gozo Hospital for cleaning. But they were returned in the same condition after the union intervened there.

“Now we are looking for someone in the private sector, but it’s difficult to get someone with the capacity we need. Today [yesterday] the hospital managed to go ahead with all operations without having to cancel any as there were unsoiled instruments that could be used. We are scrambling… not to let any patient down,” she said.

MUMN president Paul Pace said the issue revolves around the financial package of these technicians. He said the dispute also involved phlebotomists, who draw blood, as well as dental surgery technicians who assist dentists.

In all, about 180 people were following these directives.

They were ordered not to carry out their roles except in the cases of emergency operations. Scheduled scoliosis operations on children, involving a foreign surgeon coming to Malta, would also go ahead.

Pace said the union had been in discussions over the financial package of the three sectors for over nine months.