Health authorities silent on emergency drugs dispute

The health authorities remain mum on a situation in which ambulance nurses cannot administer potentially life-saving medicines, "seriously handicapping" the emergency service.

Questions sent to the Health Parliamentary Secretariat on February 17 remain unanswered. When pressed about the matter on Tuesday, a spokesman would only say that negotiations between the unions and the hospital management were underway.

However, the president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), Paul Pace said no talks were taking place. He said the last meeting on the issue was held back in September.

The government spokesman did not comment when was asked which unions he was referring to since both the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin and the General Workers' Union also said they were not involved in talks with the authorities about the matter.

The issue revolves around nurses' inability to administer drugs to patients when they go out on ambulances, even if the patient is in pain or the drugs could be life-saving.

The secretariat was asked to explain the present policy and whether there were plans to change it.

The issue was flagged up in September by the MUMN, which claimed nurses' inability to administer drugs could be putting lives at risk, adding that the medicines in question were ironically carried in the nurses' emergency bag. The union had also said that some nurses were taking the risk and giving patients the medicines they required.

The issue has been ongoing for more than a year. In a letter to the director general for health, John Cachia, in January 2008, the union had insisted that drugs, like intravenous glucose for patients suffering from low blood glucose and rectal valium for those suffering from febrile convulsions, were potential life savers.

"This unacceptable attitude adopted by the health division is not only an insult to our nursing profession but also to the public," Mr Pace wrote in the letter. He had said the emergency service was "seriously handicapped" and could result in loss of life unless the situation was rectified.

Five days later, Mr Pace said that during a meeting between the nurses' union and Social Policy Ministry officials, the health authorities had agreed to allow nurses to administer the drugs. But nothing ever came of this "agreement".