MUMN accuses health ministry, hospital management of ‘deceit, treachery and dishonesty’

Updated at 8pm with Health Ministry reaction

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses has accused the Health Ministry and Mater Dei Hospital management of “deceit, treachery and dishonesty” after the government sought a court injunction to block industrial action.

The union said on Thursday the court action had already been rendered unnecessary.

The MUMN said the Health Ministry and Mater Dei Hospital (MDH) filed a warrant of prohibitory injunction despite knowing that the dispute over vacation leave at the hospital’s Cath Lab had been resolved two days earlier, yet kept hidden from MUMN.

The union said it holds documentary evidence showing that on 2 December, MDH nursing management reinstated the long-standing system allowing two Cath Lab nurses to take vacation leave per day without needing to find their own replacement.

This system, MUMN said, reflects decades of practice and matches the 20% leave allocation used across all hospital departments.

However, the government filed the court injunction on 3 December, presenting the situation as an ongoing dispute. MUMN said this amounted to a deliberate attempt to conceal the resolution in order to justify legal action.

“Had MUMN been informed, the directives would have been immediately withdrawn, and no court case would have been necessary,” the union said, adding that the episode points to a “serious breakdown in communication within MDH, if not outright deceit, treachery and dishonesty.”

According to the union, while the Mater Dei CEO’s office and the Medical Director, acting with ministerial approval were pursuing court action, nursing management had already reversed the contested leave policy.

MUMN stressed that for 29 years, two nurses in the Cath Lab have been granted daily vacation leave without affecting patient care or delaying operations, and said this was precisely why the dispute was resolved quickly. It accused MDH management of choosing to hide this fact rather than acknowledge its mistake.

Calling the injunction “unprecedented”, the union said taking a union to court over a resolved issue demonstrated a hostile attitude from “certain elements around the Health Minister” that undermines constructive cooperation in the health sector.

MUMN said it would remain firm in defending its members and would resist “intimidation, weaponisation and bad-faith behaviour”.

Health Ministry reacts

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry strongly denied the claims made by the MUMN, insisting that the "facts and chronology are altogether different".

"The MUMN issued a directive on 2 December to be effective on 3 December, later postponed to 4 December. This directive sought to block life-saving heart operations at the Cath Suite in Mater Dei Hospital, the only unit performing these operations in Malta and Gozo," the ministry said.

It added that through notifications sent to the MUMN on 3 December, the ministry invited the union for conciliatory discussions, which the union declined soon after.

"Having put in a further similar request at 1.32pm on the same day, and without receiving a positive outcome, the ministry had no other recourse except for filing a prohibitory injunction to safeguard the health and life of the heart patients scheduled to be operated upon," the ministry said, adding it acted in good faith towards the MUMN by twice offering to meet.

"The ministry shall remain faithful to its commitment to uphold the supreme interest of its patients. Furthermore, the ministry is seriously concerned by the fact that in fulfilling their duties, its employees are being constantly and systematically subjected to unwarranted personal attacks, threats, and intimidation by the MUMN. Sadly, this approach is also evident in the recent press releases issued by the MUMN."