No industrial action by doctors pending fresh talks next week, Health Minister says

Doctors will not be taking industrial action pending talks that will be held next week between their union and the government, Health Minister Chris Fearne said.

The Medical Association of Malta ordered a one-day strike on Tuesday in the ongoing industrial dispute with the government over the privatisation of St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare and the eventual concession transfer to Steward Healthcare.

Fearne told MaltaToday that the two sides agreed to meet again next week. "MAM have agreed to take no industrial action pending the outcome of next week's talks. As a government we are trying to meet their requests for more information on the concessions agreement," Fearne said.

The government has offered to show MAM an uncensored copy of the agreement reached with VGH. The union is calling for the privatisation agreement to be scrapped once VGH failed to meet its obligations, claiming that the eventual transfer of business to Steward Healthcare without consultation was in breach of their collective agreement. The government disagrees with the latter assertion.

The concessions agreement was tabled in Parliament in October 2016 but large parts of it were blacked out. Earlier this week, Fearne said talks on the agreement could not be re-opened but reiterated government's commitment that any future private-public partnerships in the health sector would ensure that operational matters remained in the hands of the government.