[WATCH] Midwives action: Chris Fearne calls on union to keep patient interest at heart

The situation is not one that benefits patients, the Health Minister said as he reacted to directives issued by the nurses’ union in hospital maternity wards over the weekend.

Chris Fearne said it was the prerogative of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses to issue directives but asked the union to keep patient interest at heart.

Some of the directives have impacted visiting hours for fathers and relatives of mothers who have given birth.

Fearne said the management at Mater Dei Hospital had put forward counter proposals to the union’s demands. “Let us wait for the outcome,” he added.

A dispute over the manner in which midwives’ rosters are prepared has led MUMN to issuing a set of directives that have limited fathers’ visiting hours at hospital.

According to MUMN president Paul Pace, the hospital’s management had created a “discriminatory” situation where different sets of midwives were experiencing significantly different working conditions.