The Ministry for Health and Active Ageing has said that a warrant of prohibitory injunction was filed in Court to stop a Directive issued by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), in order to block industrial action by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses at Mater Dei Hospital's Cardiac Catheterisation Suite.

The ministry said that the directives "sought to stultify and prejudice the operation in the Cath Lab within the Department of Cardiology at Mater Dei Hospital."

The directive prejudices the carrying out of essential life-saving procedures for cardiac patients, it said.

"The Ministry humbly opines that the Directive issued by the MUMN is totally and impulsively disproportionate to the matter in issue. Despite the successful efforts by the management to resolve the issue, even moments before the warrant was filed, the MUMN decided to arbitrarily enforce its directive and refuse to attend a reconciliation meeting with higher management."

"As the directive puts the life of patients in grave jeopardy, the Ministry finds MUMN's course of action to be disproportionate, unethical and unsafe. As stated previously, the Ministry intends to uphold the supreme interests of all the patients who attend Mater Dei Hospital for treatment and medical care," it said.