The  nursing union has said that the UHM has issued directives to the laboratory technicians working at Mater Dei Hospital, among others, ordering them to refuse to process essential and urgent blood investigations by not accepting the blood samples through the pneumatic tube system hence no blood results are being issued.

This, the MUMN said, is a reckless directive and is putting patients' lives at risk since urgent blood investigations are not being processed at the detriment of the patients' lives.

"Seeing that blood investigations are being refused, nurses and midwives are being constrained to abandon their wards and take the blood samples physically to the laboratory, begging such laboratory technicians to conduct the urgent blood tests due to the critical condition of the patients as the results of the tests could be a matter of life and death for the patient.

"In fact the few blood results issued were only thanks to the responsible nurses and midwives who felt that such industrial action is severely effecting the patients' well-being.

"MUMN's directives have never impacted negatively patients' well-being and neither has any MUMN directive ever impacted any members belonging to any other union.

"This shows that the UHM does not observe and does not merit the respect in any trade unions' relations which UHM boasts to be a pioneer in," MUMN said.

"MUMN, being a responsible union, has instructed all nurses and midwives to continue taking the necessary blood investigations ordered by the doctors and to continue sending them to the laboratory through the pneumatic tube system.

"If due to the UHM's directives such blood samples are returned back, nurses and midwives are to keep on sending the blood samples of the patients, and that hopefully the laboratory technicians will finally accept to process such urgent and vital blood investigations and issue the results for the benefit of the patients caught up in the middle of this issue," the MUMN said.

UHM hits back at nursing union

The UHM said that the government had agreed that the directives issued are not putting patients’ lives at risk, contrary to what the MUMN is stating.

Paul Pace, the president of the MUMN, should focus his energy more on ensuring that the nurses’ rights are not being trampled upon instead of trying to give a wrong impression about other unions’ legally and morally correct directives.

Contrary to what Mr Pace wrote, urgent samples are in fact being processed and samples are being transported by nursing aides and care-workers instead of nurses.

MR Pace’s constant directives do in fact impact on the wellbeing and members of UHM. An example to this is when Mr Pace issued a directive not to get patients down from their beds. It was the physiotherapists’ intervention that prevented patients generating pressure sores.

Mr Pace seems to have forgotten when a few months ago his “responsible union” effectively stopped all chemotherapy and it was only through UHM and its Pharmacist members that patients’ lives were saved through chemotherapy.

On the day, the government, instead of informing the public that patients’ lives were at risk through actions by Mr Pace, chose to inform patients receiving chemotherapy that their appointment had been moved by a week due to a large influx of patients.

One should ask, was this intervention by Mr Pace done due to hidden agenda? Was perhaps a call for application issued by coincidence? “In the continuous communication between the government and UHM this morning to try to sort the issues, the government made a direct reference to Mr Pace’s press release before him even issuing it,” the UHM said.

Does this mean that the government and Mr Pace are working together against UHM?” Josef Vella, the UHM’s secretary general asked.

Mr Vella concluded by stating that “I want to thank all the workers who are currently on industrial actions for showing their support and solidarity instead of reverting to backstabbing. This is what spirit in the Trade Union movement should be.” 

MUMN says it is seeking legal advice following UHM's claims

MUMN said it strongly denies claims made in the press statement issued by UHM as a reaction to the MUMN's first official press release that the MUMN even stopped all chemotherapy treatment at Boffa Hospital. Not only is the UHM press statement far from any truth and a blatant lie and the MUMN would be seeking legal advice on this matter.

"The UHM wanted to deviate public from the great harm UHM is doing to the patients with its current directives in Mater Dei hospital," the MUMN said.

The current directives in MDH, where blood investigations are being refused due to directives of the UHM, is irresponsible and highly unethical  since such directive does not distinguish from the urgent life-saving blood investigations to routine blood investigations. Such directives can easily cause the death of any critically ill patient at MDH.

The MUMN also urged the health minister to take note of this.