The Malta Chamber of Pharmacists took issue with a news release by the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and pointed out that the UHM represented only pharmacists employed by the government, not all pharmacists in the country, as the UHM appeared to imply.

Apart from being a trade union, it added, the chamber is a member of the Malta Federation of Professional Associations, since the chamber is a professional association whose officials and council members are all registered pharmacists.

The UHM is not, and cannot be a member of this institution, nor are its officials members of the pharmacy profession. This being the situation, it is the chamber, not the UHM, which is the non-governmental organisation qualified to be consulted on professional matters relating to the practice of pharmacy by licensed pharmacists.

In the matter of the Pharmacist of Your Choice scheme, the chamber said it has not attempted to enter into the merits of negotiating the working conditions of government pharmacists within the scheme, since the latter have, since 2002, made it perfectly clear to the chamber that they were no longer interested in the chamber's representation of their employment interests.