Three unions have ordered industrial action at Mount Carmel Hospital with directives to nurses and nursing aides coming into effect today.

The unions - the General Workers' Union, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses - yesterday called a meeting for their members to explain the deadlock in talks with the hospital management over the male admission acute ward (male ward 1) and staff shortage.

As from 7 a.m. today the nurses and nursing aides at the hospital will not carry out any paper work, except for the day and night report and pharmacy-related work. They have also been ordered not to release any administrative information over the phone and not to carry out any work outside the wards, except those related with the pharmacy and the transfer of patients from one ward to another.

Last week the three unions had registered an industrial dispute with the Health Division over the fact that the ward, which was only meant to cater for 20 acute mental patients, was accommodating too many patients including drug addicts, criminals and at least 15 illegal immigrants.

The unions also felt that the hospital management still failed to address the issue of staff complement as established in the deployment exercise agreement of 2001.