Doctors to take action over staff meals

Doctors' dissatisfaction with staff meals at Mater Dei Hospital was emphasised during a meeting on Monday evening when they authorised the Medical Association of Malta to take action.

The association council will be meeting in the coming days to decide what action to take.

The move follows the government's decision to stop providing the service of staff meals, after a nurse found the severed head of a mouse in her vegetables, and offered employees an allowance to buy their own food.

Doctors remain unhappy with the way their collective agreement - which promised a substantial pay rise and better working conditions - is being implemented, so this was the last straw.

Association president Martin Balzan confirmed that the promised promotions had been delayed, while doctors working for the anti-substance abuse agency Sedqa had not yet received their pay rise.

Although doctors and nurses had accepted the allowance following the mouse incident, they had always stressed this would only be a temporary solution.

Dr Balzan had said it could only be accepted as a stop-gap measure for a maximum of one month because doctors worked long shifts and the lack of catering outlets outside the hospital made it difficult for them to buy food.

Moreover, the visitors' canteen is also run by the supplier of staff meals, Papillon Caterers. The incident has landed the catering company, Quality Catering Services Ltd, in court.

Scientific tests were carried out last November when three doctors and about 20 nurses had fallen ill with gastroenteritis with some wondering whether this could have linked to hospital food.