MAM insists on full implementation of collective agreement

The Medical Association of Malta has complained that parts of the collective agreement reached with the government last year have not yet been implemented, and as a result young doctors may continue to leave the country.

The association said in a statement after a general meeting that while many aspects of the agreement had been implemented by the government, especially in the setting up of local training programmes for doctors to be trained to become specialists, post-graduate training co-coordinators had not been remunerated, putting in doubt the long term sustainability of these programmes.

"Promotions which had been agreed for basic specialist trainees, higher specialist trainees and resident specialists on completion of training have not been issued to date," the MAM said.

The association said it was urging the health authorities to issue these posts as soon as possible so to retain doctors who were training locally.

It also pointed out that these same doctors, who were working at the hospital on shifts in excess of 30 hours, also had to endure problems with the provision of meals through no fault of their own.

Furthermore, doctors who worked for Sedqa had not had their conditions of work updated to the November 2007 agreement.

The association said it was urging the authorities to ensure that these doctors were treated like their colleagues in the public service.