"Do not make the medical profession the scapegoat for government's failures," the Medical Association of Malta (MAM) said in response to comments made by Health Minister Jo-Etienne Abela on Tuesday following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into the death of Stephen Mangion.

The magisterial inquiry which looked into 55-year-old former police officer Stephen Mangion's death found that there was no negligence by the medical staff who attended to him and that they should not face criminal prosecution for his death. During a press conference following this announcement, the health minister had "We want more staff working in emergency... We want everyone who enters the emergency department to be seen to immediately, especially those in more urgent situations." He continued that the process to improve things is moving along slowly "because there is resistance from the MAM (Medical Association of Malta). The time has come to say things as they are."

"Doctors did their best - despite a failure of systems due to lack of infrastructure," the MAM said in its statement.

MAM said that it is "very satisfied that the enquiring magistrate found that doctors and indeed all other health care professionals performed their duties in an ethical and professional way. The last thing MAM expected, was for the medical profession to be unfairly treated by the minister himself simply to cover up for the major shortcomings of his predecessor and the squandering pubic funds."

"It is true however that patients have to wait for unacceptable periods of time for all government services, as €400 million of investment have gone down the drain, despite the fact that virtually zero investment has taken place in infrastructure in the last 11 years. While this is not directly the minister's fault, this is a system failure because of insufficient infrastructure. The Minister had to be honest and admit this publicly and apologise to patients for this situation, not blame those who do their best for patients in such unfortunate circumstance," the MAM said.

The MAM said that it is disappointed when a ministry "does not follow its legal obligations with the association to discuss outsourcing. It is most unfair for the Maltese tax payer to pay €10,000 for an IVF procedure, when most centres in the European union charge under €2,000 per procedure - a 400% cut. The Ministry should come clean and refer this situation to the auditor general rather than blame MAM for demanding honesty and integrity. It comes as no surprise that this did not happen."

MAM said that it has refrained from alarming the public of the sad decision taken by the health ministry, "that a ward specifically designed for critical patients needing ventilation was closed and patients placed in hospital wards which are not equipped for such patients, against the opinion of all the medical consultants and international guidelines on patient safety. As these critically ill patients are in danger of death, there was a need for all respiratory physicians to write to the state advocate that they opposed such a decision, should a death result in a magisterial enquiry. Doctors stand for the patient, however such as a decision has not been reversed to date."

In conclusion MAM said that it is always ready to engage in positive constructive dialogue and is always bringing members' and patients' concerns to the health ministry, "however it is not ready to be a scapegoat for the government's failure to sufficiently invest in health infrastructure."