Updated | Doctors' union says strike action is a success

The Medical Association of Malta said on Tuesday that the strike it had ordered at Mater Dei Hosptial's outpatient department and health centres was a success, with almost all its members obeying directives.  

MAM said that almost all its members observed all of its directives issued at Mater Dei hospital, health centers, Karen Grech hospital and Gozo general hospital, with only two or three doctors who did not obey the strike directives.

The Union said all clinics which were exempted from the directives were functioning normally, namely the oncology, maternity, and the emergency departments.

“MAM notes that hospital management is reappointing patients in the near future,” the statement said. “MAM would like to thank patients for their understanding of the situation.”

READ MORE: Doctors' Tuesday strike to go ahead

Accident and Emergency doctors, who were exempted from the directives, this morning expressed their full support for MAM.

The directive, the union said, was also a success in health centres.

A photo taken this morning of Accident and Emergency Staff with MAM officials

Calm situation at Mater Dei Hospital

At Mater Dei Hospital some 1,700 outpatient appointments were affected, according to CEO Ivan Falzon.

He said that initial indications show that between 400 and 500 patients turned up for their appointments. Some of these were related to oncology and gynaecology, two areas were doctors were exempted from strike action by their union.

Falzon said the situation at hospital was calm, with customer care officials on the ground to help patients.

“Appointments are being rescheduled and I apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients,”  Falzon said.

Health Minister Chris Fearne yesterday said that the strike action would hit around 3,000 patients across all medical facilities. 

The directives

•  MAM ordered doctors to strike in hospital outpatients department. The directives also affect health centres.
• Only three health centres in Malta – Paola, Floriana and Mosta – and one in Gozo – Victoria- have doctors’ services.
• All scheduled non-urgent appointments at health centres shall be rescheduled, and routine repeat prescriptions shall be postponed.  
• All walk in cases needing emergency care will still be seen to.
• House calls services will be limited to one doctor per health centre, using the usual protocol to determine which cases need to be seen to.
• MAM said that its members will go out on strike at the Mater Dei outpatients department as well as all other peripheral outpatient clinics in both Malta and Gozo from 8am to 4pm.  The directive also applies to Karin Grech and Gozo General hospital.
• Ward doctors at Mater Dei Hospital will be on work to rule, while doctors in administrative duties will not answer phone calls or emails.
• No sickness certificates will be issued for discharged patients after 2:30pm at hospital, while no discharge letters, prescriptions or any paper work are to be issued from the discharge lounge. Foundation doctors will only fill in this paper work, if patients are in a normal ward.
• After 2:30pm, only prescriptions for a three-day supply of medicine will be filled.
• From 2.30 pm to 8am foundation doctors are only to deal with all urgent matters of a clinical nature and limit their paper work.
• MAM said the directives will not apply to clinics at Sir Anthony Mamo oncology hospital and maternity clinics. 
• There shall be no directives affecting the accident and emergency department either, or any of the acute wards.

Strike action

Doctors have been ordered to strike for a day in outpatients' departments and a number of health centres.

The strike was ordered in protest over the transfer of St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals to Steward Healthcare.

MAM have said that the concession deal was a breach of the doctors’ collective agreement, which says that the union should be given at least six weeks notice so that meetings on the transfer could take place.

The strike was set to go forward after a meeting with the Health Minister, Chris Fearne failed to register any progress.

MAM secretary general Martin Balzan said the Health Minister agreed with them in principle that in any future public-private partnerships, the government should not let go of operational matters. However, he said the government was insisting it could not pull out of the VGH deal covering the three State hospital

Fearne said the transfer agreement between the companies was concluded and Steward were expected to take over the management of the three hospitals in the coming days.

Parties reacts

Nationalist Party spokesperson for health Stephen Spiteri said the Vitals contract should be amended, as the PN does not think that the government should be paying extra. “Why should the government pay the costs over and above what is necessary?”

“The government has the opportunity to once again take over these hospitals and to form a new process by which the hospitals can be run. The government shouldn’t pay a million euro for an ambulance from Malta to Gozo; and why should government pay for 712 beds, which cost €188,000 a day, even if the beds are vacant?”

Spiteri said that the doctors on strike are irritated since their agreement clearly stipulates that the government has to inform the unions at least six weeks prior of any such transfer. “For this reason, I want to say that this agreement between Vitals and the government – and now, between Vitals and Steward’s – didn’t only create doubts among the Opposition, but it created concerns among the two unions which represent the people who work in these companies.”

PN spokesperson for mental health Mario Galea said that the Opposition is not adverse to having a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), but that this should not be kept secret. “The strike is not the fault of the doctors, the doctors are in fact the victims. The strike is happening due to the government’s stubbornness, and due to secret agreements which are taking place not for the interests of the people but for the pockets of people we don’t know.”

The Labour Party said that it is clear that the PN is against the investment. However, in a statement the Party said that the Opposition did not say a work against Steward Health Care’s excellent medical track record.

PL said that the Labour government can guarantee that the health sector will remain free for all citizens and that the workers’ conditions respected. “This is what the PN dislikes,” the statement said.

Labour MP Glenn Bedingfield took to social media, reacting to a picture of emergency staff smiling with the Union.  He said that staff should not be happy that the patients were suffering, and nor should the PN.