The Malta Independent 10 February 2025, Monday
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Updated: MAM abandons meeting with minister, issues new directives

Friday, 17 January 2025, 15:48 Last update: about 23 days ago

Updated at 17:21 with a reaction from the Health Minister

The Medical Association of Malta said its officials abandoned a meeting with Health Minister Jo-Etienne Abela after "shouting" and "finger-pointing", and has issued a set of new directives for its members to start on Wednesday.

In a statement, MAM said a meeting was held on Friday with a government delegation including Minister Joe Etienne Abela, where MAM presented several solutions to address the current crisis at health centres and at the emergency department.

"This meeting was characterised by lots of shouting and finger pointing by Minister Jo Etienne Abela to the extent that the MAM delegation had to leave the meeting because it was not the right attitude for professional discussion," the MAM said.

Of particular concern was the Ministry's decision to proceed with private sector outsourcing without obtaining MAM's written consent, which directly violates the binding standing agreement with the government, the association said.

"This was specifically drawn up to avoid the repetition of the Vitals-Steward fraud.  MAM had previously agreed to stop the strike action at the time with the proviso that all future outsourcing of medical services would need prior MAM written approval.  This approval was never sought despite repeated MAM requests including a court protest," the association said.

General Practitioners in health centres are facing unprecedented pressures, MAM added. Despite repeated attempts by MAM to initiate dialogue about their challenging working conditions, all efforts have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. Just like their colleagues in the Emergency department, pressure keeps piling up till people break down, it said.

The number of doctors leaving the service is also increasing, making the situation for medical practitioners at health centres untenable, MAM said.

This is made worse by poor management decisions such as new unworkable procedures in emergency and health centre managers resorting to a stop leave order.

 MAM reiterated its commitment to constructive dialogue and called on the Ministry to honour existing agreements requiring consultation on private sector involvement, review the burdensome SOPs for emergency department doctors, engage in immediate discussions regarding GP working conditions, and respect standard civil service procedures with regards appointments of doctors in senior positions.

MAM declared an industrial dispute with the Health Ministry earlier this week.

MAM ordered members not to refer patients to private hospitals, and was issued two days after the Ministry announced a partnership with the private sector for emergency services to ease the burden on Mater Dei Hospital.

Minister Jo Etienne Abela described MAM actions as "unnecessary".

In a Facebook post on Friday evening, Abela said that he had emailed MAM leader Martin Baalzan offering “everything” so that those who are sick do not suffer any longer.

“During another meeting today it was obvious that Dr Balzan had not spoken to his colleagues about these proposals, so much so that he left the room more than once,” Abela wrote.

His final reply to the proposals, Abela lamented, was that he was ready to paralyse the country by closing down polyclinics. “It’s easy to lose patience before these types of threats, but several people present are witnesses to the fact that this did not happen.  On the contrary, we invited MAM for another meeting on Monday,” Abela said.

 

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